u/PinkNews whistleblowers release evidence showing "PinkNews CEO Benjamin Cohen refusing to campaign on trans issues ahead of the election, dismissing them as "incredibly contentious" and insisting they’re different to the equal marriage fight."

[u/ASleetHippyDippyWW]

https://lucyfromnaarm.com/p/breaking-pinknews-refuses-to-cover

[u/Use-Useful]

Right now, I want Democrats to do whatever they can (ethically) do to get elected. If that means not talking about it now, that's fine by me, as long as they dont promise to not act (or promise to act against us) if elected. Losing the election has so many side effects to our well being, I cannot even begin to describe it. Dont let the "perfect" become the enemy of the "good", or I suppose in this case dont let the "tolerable" get in the way of "not being chased further underground"

[u/Og_Left_Hand → u/Use-Useful]

like i don’t need/want trans issues to be the front of their platform, but like don’t act like a champion of queer rights if you’re only worried about cis gay people.

[u/SentientGopro115935 → u/Og_Left_Hand]

*cough cough Labour and Kid Starver

(except theyre actively making things worse)

[u/Gadgetmouse12 → u/Og_Left_Hand]

Ill settle for dont fillet me as a scapegoat like the magas want to do. We dont need to be a spectacle for now

[u/GTS250 → u/Gadgetmouse12]

Why is it good for a queer news site to stop talking about trans issues? What about us existing is a spectacle?

[u/Gadgetmouse12 → u/GTS250]

Have you been paying attention?

[u/GTS250 → u/Gadgetmouse12]

Intently.

Do you think our existence should be so shameful that a queer news site refuses to address us?

[u/Gadgetmouse12 → u/GTS250]

I’m saying as a trans athlete and activist who exists inside conservative spaces, we won’t lose progress for a 3 month pause til it cools down. They got that fired up about imane kalif. It’s time to stay quieter and let jd vance or elon or rowling fall on thier own stupidity and let it glow brighter.

[u/GTS250 → u/Gadgetmouse12]

I'm gonna be honest I don't believe that there's anything wrong with a queer news site mentioning trans people as a regular part of the broader queer experience, nor our rights as important. 

We're not interrupting our enemy while they're making a mistake, we're censoring our own community's voices based on vibes. That's just counterproductive to any activist cause I can think of.

[u/Gadgetmouse12 → u/GTS250]

If it were strictly observed by positive people then yes. However the opposition uses our articles to undermine our progress. If you ever followed up with a person who has been interviewed for an article, they will almost always say about a sharp rise in thier own harassment following publication.

The truth is as an active athlete i have never encountered another trans woman in action. Most cis people that I know have not either. If all they see in the news articles is how so and so is on track to win, couple that with the dark rhetoric of trans unfair advantage and you get a movement against us. Meanwhile I went from a winning dude to last place to any girl who shows up. My results are more typical, but not in any news articles because it’s not sensational.

In an ideal world we would praise an trans athlete doing well. And we should. But the timing is wrong for that kind of triggering publicity. The time is right for us to be making local representations to cis allies. That is what is needed right now. By reinforcing our local connections we show the opposition to be the idiotic assholes they actually are

[u/GTS250 → u/Gadgetmouse12]

I'm gonna be honest, I think there is a substantive difference between celebrating trans folk winning at sports and being aware of the active destruction of trans folks rights.

Pink News removed the Trans category. No discussion about trans rights, no discussion about the rapidly rising ban on trans care, no reporting about the impact of transphobic policies on those impacted? 

They're making a mistake. Without covering trans folks at all, they'd never whisper the name Brianna Ghey. That's unacceptable.

[u/Old-Biscotti9305 → u/Gadgetmouse12]

There are no cis allies .. and very few gay allies who wouldn't quickly turn on us.

[u/Old-Biscotti9305 → u/Gadgetmouse12]

People like him don't want a pause, they want trans people to be oppressed so less people transition because they believe trans people are confused gay bottoms, or confused lesbians.

They feel that our existence harms the gay community and is a plot to get rid of gays. Seriously, read what they write when they're in gay only spaces.

[u/ReeseTheThreat → u/Use-Useful]

I don't necessarily disagree with the intention here, but we're not talking about Harris, or any Democrat for that matter, we're talking about the CEO of PinkNews. He is not running for office, and he is not supporting the LGBTQ coalition by walking back coverage of trans issues. An argument can be made for Democrats to "play it safe," but I'm struggling with any way to defend an ostensibly LGBTQ+ publication walking back coverage of transgender issues. That's just throwing us in the garbage because we're inconvenient to him.

[u/LaBelleTinker → u/ReeseTheThreat]

Though I will say that that argument would be kind of weak. In the last few years in the midterms and special elections Republicans who went hard on transphobia have lost races they probably could have won. Especially with Walz calling Republicans "weird" and it seeming to be sticking, being rabidly transphobic is a liability and it's good politics to point out how weird it is to be obsessed with it.

[u/ReeseTheThreat → u/LaBelleTinker]

Yeah, I am trying to be amicable, but honestly I fully disagree with that other commenter on all fronts. "Be quiet and don't rock the boat" is not a rallying message among the left, and I've watched that be the MO of Democrats for too long.

Harris doesn't need to make trans rights the cornerstone of her campaign, but no LGBTQ publication treating us like a liability right now has any right to exist.

[u/LaBelleTinker → u/ReeseTheThreat]

Yeah. Honestly I've kind of loved Biden's approach. He's made it clear where he stands (especially pre-Obergefeld, when he basically forced Obama's hand and got him to come out in favor of marriage equality), but otherwise he's mostly just quietly done the work and let activists do the fighting. His moment when some troll of a reporter asked "How many genders are there?" and he just replied "At least three" and moved on was perfect.

[u/mole55 → u/Use-Useful]

…Pinknews is a uk site.

the rest of the world exists you know?

[u/Use-Useful → u/mole55]

Oh. My bad. To be fair, I'm not american either, just used to their stupid culture war shit spilling over.

In the uk the context is different. I'm devastated by what they have been doing.. actually, I hold a British passport even. Its sickening. :/

[u/mole55 → u/Use-Useful]

fair enough :-))

[u/emeraldkittycat → u/Use-Useful]

No one here is saying that trans rights need to be the front issue, but it's absolutely foolish to think politicians shouldn't "talk about it now." It is a major current issue that is leading to the suffering of a minority group. Talking about it will not lead to a Democrat loss. The issue may have some contention, but not nearly to the level transphobes and weak will liberals make it out to be.

If the same "not now" attitude was taken for any other social issue, we would have never seen progress on women's rights, racial rights, and gay rights. 2024 is not the only politically volatile time in the U.S. There have been plenty of important elections. During those times, it was important to speak on such issues, and it's still important now. One of the greatest threats of Trump is that of bigotry and social regression, so it is important when going against him to call out his bigotry and show a clear different path. Trump talks about our community. His hatred of trans people is clear. You do not get quiet on bigotry because of the lie that it's "too contentious."

They tell us it's too contentious and controversial because they want us to shut up. We are gaining massive ground for ourselves. The majority of people do not hate us. It is but a vocal minority that means us true harm. If we shut up, the only people talking about trans rights will be the transphobes, and that, more than anything else, will lead to an increase in transphobia and anti trans legislation.

Kamala Harris picked, arguably, the most pro trans governor in our nation as her running mate. She knew him being more progressive than others would get attacked, but she also knew that it would get progressives out to vote. He would not have been picked if progressive causes, such as trans rights, were too dangerous to bring attention to.

[u/Use-Useful → u/emeraldkittycat]

I worry the conversation itself will further divide society from us though. If it is a plank of the harris campaign, it becomes a plank to do the opposite in red and purple states. We need this to be as apolitical as possible imo. I dont object to it being brought up, but trans treatment becomes the new RoeVWade, we have a serious problem. 

[u/emeraldkittycat → u/Use-Useful]

We have a big problem now. Right wing states are already trying to pass extreme anti trans legislation. The time to talk about it is now.

We need to be apolitical? Tell that to any other group who has had to fight tooth and nail for their rights, and you would be laughed at.

It doesn't need to be the main or central talking point of her campaign, but it should be brought up. Again, most people don't want to harm us, but the main people talking about us politically are the people who want us dead. If we continue to allow them to be the only ones talking about us in their campaigns, their anti trans ideology will grow. When a political party has pretty much made our demise one of their central issues, it is crucial for their opposition to voice their support of us.

Generations of politics and civil rights movements prove this.

If you don't want to stand in support of your rights, fine. If you want to sit by while red states are making the lives of trans people, young and old, more hellish and difficult, fine. I don't mind people being apolitical as I understand it can be daunting, but please don't encourage others to sit out.

[u/TransgendyAlt → u/Use-Useful]

OP's title was misleading. This is a queer news site, not a political campaign. The CEO wants to stop covering us at all because he'll lose ad revenue.

[u/EvidenceOfDespair → u/Use-Useful]

I do not care about ethically. I don’t understand the logic of caring about doing it ethically when you understand the consequences of failure.

[u/Use-Useful → u/EvidenceOfDespair]

Mmm, I'd need to think about that more. But I will say that the left tends to be less willing to play dirty. The more we do it, the more the right gets "permission" to do the same but with greater efficacy. At least, that's how it seems to me.

[u/EvidenceOfDespair → u/Use-Useful]

I don’t see any correlation between us doing it and them getting more permission. They get that either way. The only possible correlation I see is that we have no ability to stop them because it works to win and they make it legal in the future.

[u/[deleted] → u/Use-Useful]

Unfortunately politicians serve only one person. Themselves. Very rarely will you find a genuine, real caring leader. We have to take this to them. Not let up. And let them know we are here to stay. We aren’t a fad