The New York Times Once Again Fails to Take Responsibility for the Right’s Anti-Trans Crusade

At last, the perfect use of the Tim Robinson hot dog gif has presented itself, and Twitter is taking full advantage.

An article ran in yesterday’s Sunday edition of the New York Times calling the recent mobilization against trans people the right wing’s new rallying charge—without taking any responsibility for how they got there.

As we’ve reported previously, the Times has a history of throwing trans folks under the bus. Whether they’re platforming active transphobes like Pamela Paul, considering the term “trans” to be editorializing, or spreading dangerous, unsubstantiated claims about puberty blockers from cherry-picked sources, they’ve been gunning for us even longer than the religious right has.

In recent months, it’s gotten so bad that trans Times contributors and allies—along with GLAAD—penned two open letters calling out bias in the Times’ reporting of trans subjects.

Related:

An Open Letter to the New York Times

Enough is enough.

So naturally, trans people are feeling gaslit, to say the very least.

Is this an about-face? Is the Times changing its tune? I mean, probably not. The piece represents, as usual, that distinct denial of responsibility and obvious reportage that remains a Times specialty. This might be a new revelation for Times readers, but for trans people—who have been living in the chaos of an impending genocide since January—it’s old news. Too little, too late doesn’t even begin to cover it.

And because we need to laugh to stop crying, use of a gif from Tim Robinson’s hilarious guilty hot dog sketch flourished.

The call is, and has always been, coming from inside the house: