Does Fox News Hate Transgender People?
Does Fox News have an agenda to mock transgender people? Several LGBT groups think it does and have documented a series of instances, the latest an image of Robin Williams dressed as movie character Mrs. Doubtfire in an online report detailing California’s and Oregon’s new healthcare regulations for transgender people.
A successful petition from Basic Rights Oregon, the nonprofit LGBT equality group, resulted in Fox News’ removing from its website the image of Mrs. Doubtfire.
“Trivializing transgender people’s need for medically necessary healthcare ignores the position of the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and countless other authorities on healthcare. We demand an apology and that Fox News end its transphobic content,” states the petition. LGBT and civil-rights groups that promoted the petition included ForceChange.com, GLAAD and Media Matters.
After just two days, the image in the FoxNews.com article was replaced with featured stock photography of a stethoscope, but Fox News did not issue an apology.
The petition called attention to Fox News’ long history of “misrepresenting gay and transgender people with sensational and dehumanizing coverage.” Equality Matters has a long list of Fox News’ demonstrated “transphobia” incidents and coverage dating back to March 2010. These include host Bill O’Reilly’s mocking the physical image of a transgender inmate, how Fox News “celebrated” the Transgender Day Of Remembrance (see the video below) and when Fox’s Todd Starnes slammed the pro-transgender Miss USA Pageant Winner.
Additional insight on this issue can be found in DiversityInc’s recent coverage: Fox Anchor In Trouble After Calling Rachel Maddow ‘Angry Young Man.’
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