The Age’s Transphobic Opinion Piece Has Been Ripped To Shreds Online
The trans community has called out the publication for pandering to "both sides" at the expense of trans rights.
The LGBTIQ community has been quick to respond after Australian newspaper The Age published a transphobic opinion piece on Wednesday.
An opinion piece entitled Trans right should not automatically trump the rights of other groups on Wednesday after Greens Councillor Rohan Leppert made headlines for allegedly trans-exclusionary comments made on Facebook.
The piece — penned by author and freelance journalist Julie Szego — is the second piece regarding the Leppert situation that The Age has published this week, since the Greens released a letter addressing the situation.
“What’s striking is that Leppert is accused of transphobia for fearing that affirmative care might be suppressing a young person’s lesbian identity. Surely we could flip this around to accuse his critics of homophobia in seeking to silence his fears,” Szego writes in the piece, pushing her point that trans rights infringe on the rights of women and gay people (which is, frankly, not true).
“But it doesn’t work that way. A hierarchy of victimhood operates; transgender people are considered to have less power than gays and lesbians. As a result, some people struggle to comprehend the idea that granting rights to a less powerful group, transgender people, might disenfranchise a relatively more powerful group.”
As is to be expected, the piece was quickly called out by the trans community and its allies online.
The Age has published a second piece in a week about the Cr Leppert saga. Right from the headline it frames trans people as sinister enemies who oppose women’s rights (1/10) pic.twitter.com/evgs1Y1WTf
— Joshua Badge (@joshuabadge) April 6, 2022
really shameful to see this rubbish published in The Age. solidarity with my trans siblings today and always ✊🏽🏳️⚧️ https://t.co/7kyWkljUuI
— Shane Bazzi (@shanebazzi) April 6, 2022
The notion that trans rights impede on the rights of cis women or other members of the LGBTIQ community is blatantly false.
Just adding my voice to the chorus of other queer cis women – the age is wrong & is stirring up shit. My interests, my safety, my liberation, is bound up with, supported, & enriched by the presence of trans, non-binary, & gender queer people. I work to make mine so for them. pic.twitter.com/yC617zEJc8
— Natalie Osborne (@DrNatOsborne) April 6, 2022
Many were quick to point out the issue with the publication’s both sides-ism on trans rights, which perpetually puts some of Australia’s most vulnerable people in the centre of a debate over their right to live a normal life.
We’re missing out on hearing trans perspectives because the Age decided to ask the wrong side first.
That’s a choice the Age has made, and I hope they realize their mistake. You can’t “show both sides” if you present one as a given and the other as a reaction to it. https://t.co/M18BXQBmcL
— Leena 🌵 (@LeenaVanD) April 6, 2022
I don't believe in the "both sides" journalism argument – trans lives are not a debate and the damage is now done by platforming this hateful view – but I wonder if The Age would publish an article that goes through and fact checks each assertion made in this piece?
— Patrick Lenton (@PatrickLenton) April 6, 2022
Some members of the trans community allege they were asked to write a response piece for The Age, a request that was repeatedly rejected by trans writers.
It was with a heavy heart that I read another anti trans article in @theage this morning. Shortly after I was invited to write an article for the same publication about the impact of anti Trans articles on the Trans community. Below is my response 👇 pic.twitter.com/ZfF10Gr2NK
— Joe Ball (@Joe_c_Ball) April 6, 2022
Not only did @theage ask Nevo to respond with an op ed, the journo writing the original anti trans piece for The Age lied to trick Nevo into an interview (none of Nevo’s words ended up in the piece)! https://t.co/En1zQGvJAE
— Jessica Walton – They/Them🦿 (@JessHealyWalton) April 6, 2022
While The Age does publish some positive trans stories, these efforts are undermined by the continued platforming of authors sharing transphobic opinion pieces every few months like clockwork.
Junkee has reached out to The Age for comment.