GLAAD Calls Out 60 Minutes for ‘Fearmongering’ Segment With ‘Anti-Trans Dog Whistles’ About Transgender Youth
GLAAD, the LGBTQ advocacy organization, called out 60 Minutes for airing a segment Sunday about health care for transgender youth that includes what the group called “anti-trans dogwhistles.”
Tonight @60Minutes @LesleyRStahl aired a shameful segment fearmongering about trans youth. Parents of trans youth could walk away with the false belief that young people are being rushed into medical transition. That is simply untrue. (1/7)
— GLAAD (@glaad) May 24, 2021
#60Minutes heard concerns from several trans leaders and, after spending months on the segment, they delivered a piece which still promulgates the same anti-trans dog whistles that we hear from anti-LGBTQ activists and in state legislatures like Arkansas. (6/7)
— GLAAD (@glaad) May 24, 2021
“Tonight, @60Minutes @Lesley Stahl aired a shameful segment fearmongering about trans youth,” GLAAD said in a tweet. “Parents of trans youth could walk away with the false belief that young people are being rushed into medical transition. That is simply untrue.”
“#60Minutes heard concerns from several trans leaders and, after spending months on the segment, they delivered a piece which still promulgates the same anti-trans dog whistles that we hear from anti-LGBTQ activists and in state legislatures like Arkansas.”
At least 20 states have introduced at least 35 bills that would limit transgender youths’ access to health care.
60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl‘s segment initially focused on state bills aimed at limiting health care for transgender youth, and imposed criminal penalties on doctors who do provide such care.
In addition to interviews with medical experts in the fields of health care for transgender people and transgender youth, the segment featured an interview with Grace Lidinsky-Smith, who underwent the transition process, including having a mastectomy, in her early 20s, after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Within a year, she had started detransitioning.
“I can’t believe that I transitioned and detransitioned, including hormones and surgery, in the course of, like, less than one year,” Lidinsky-Smith told Stahl. “It’s completely crazy.”
In the 60 Minutes piece, Stahl noted that there is “no confirmed number of detransitioners in the US, though their percentage among the more than 1.4 million transgender Americans is assumed to be small.”
On Twitter, GLAAD criticized 60 Minutes for “failing to disclose that a person profiled in the story is the president of a group that actively seeks to limit affirming transition-related healthcare[.]”
That person appears to be Lidinsky-Smith, a board member of the Gender Consumer Advocacy Network (GCCAN), which describes itself as a group that “aims to empower consumers to make the best decisions possible when starting or stopping gender care services.”
Stahl also interviewed four additional people who had gone through the detransitioning process.
In a 60 Minutes Overtime segment with Stahl posted on the CBS News, Stahl said that she wanted to emphasize that the people who detransitioned felt that they had received inadequate health care advice.
Stahl also expressed concern that anti-transgender groups might try to “weaponize” her segment – a concern shared by Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David.
“I’m concerned about that young person who is facing stigmatization and discrimination at home and at school and they may attempt suicide because society has told them that they’re worthless,” David told Stahl in the 60 Minutes Overtime segment.
“Bringing a story to light about detransitioning without talking about the vast majority of ppl who positively transition would cause concern because it sends a message,” David added. “We need to also elevate the positive stories who successfully transition.”
