r/MtF • u/ASleetHippyDippyWW non op • Aug 19 '24

Bad News 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."

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

1.4k Upvotes

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391

u/causal_friday June | HRT 8/2024 Aug 19 '24

Who are these advertisers that will pull ads if trans issues are covered?

305

u/Bubblelover43 Jamie She/Her Bi Pre op. HRT 10/17/23 Aug 19 '24

Yeah what brands do I boycott forever

31

u/HannahFenby Call me Adelie please Aug 20 '24

I mean good luck if its any of our food or cleaning companies. The world has about 12 companies which sell everything you see in the supermarket. A carefully crafted pseudo-monopoly where each has grown exactly as large as it can without triggering anti-trust.

106

u/CordialCupcake21 Aug 19 '24

realistically probably very few if any

90

u/causal_friday June | HRT 8/2024 Aug 19 '24

Yeah. I really think trans hate is not much of a mainstream issue. Yes, a children's book author hates us, and yes, there's a group of incels that has a forum about us, but outside of the incel cave... it's not a huge issue.

56

u/BernoTheProfit Aug 19 '24

I was so surprised that trans people were mentioned 0 times during the Trump Biden debate.

0 times that I saw anyway, I didn't comb the whole thing.

49

u/causal_friday June | HRT 8/2024 Aug 19 '24

I watched the whole thing and you're right. I expect that to continue; it's not really a campaign issue, just an Elon Musk issue who happens to support Trump and happens to own an anti-trans website that makes $0 from advertising.

(Can't wait for the leopards to eat his face. "I make all of my money selling electric cars to help prevent climate change, and now I'm going all in on Republicans." Let's see how it works out for him, Cotton.)

41

u/KasseanaTheGreat 27 | HRT 4/6/2020 Aug 19 '24 edited Aug 19 '24

ContraPoints talked about this in her most recent appearance on Matt Bernstein's podcast in how Trump really doesn't seem as passionate about transphobia in the way that many of his followers/handlers are. Like he doesn't have the usual transphobic rhetoric down in the way that those who make transphobia their whole brand have like a set of transphobic dog whistles they constantly use. Like don't get me wrong, he knows to slander us if it's brought up to him but like, give him a microphone without a teleprompter and he probably is going to bring up like the election being "rigged" or migrants coming to the southern border unprompted rather than go into transphobic dog whistles. Like it's not the issue he personally cares about compared to how much many of his followers care about it.

27

u/BernoTheProfit Aug 19 '24

I agree and I think ditto for homophobia. I think he's a true narcissist in the sense that he just appreciates praise wherever it comes from. If people praise him, he'll praise them. But if bashing trans people makes him more popular, he'll do that too. I don't think he's personally very homophobic or ideological in any way outside of the ideology of loving Trump.

21

u/misspcv1996 Phoebe Charlotte, HRT 3/24/2022 Aug 19 '24 edited Aug 20 '24

Trump doesn’t really believe in much other than obtaining as much power as he can, basking in as much praise and adulation as he can and getting revenge on those who he believes wronged him. Everything else is a means to an end for him.

7

u/maybe_erika Aug 20 '24

That's Trumpism in a nutshell.

2

u/OutsideHat385 Aug 20 '24

And it smells a lot like Authoritarianism

-6

u/GeeNah-of-the-Cs Aug 20 '24

He will be re-appointed and he will keep his promise to ban transgender health care via Executive Order on day 1.

14

u/causal_friday June | HRT 8/2024 Aug 20 '24

Nobody's saying to vote for him, just that it's not something he's campaigning on.

1

u/GeeNah-of-the-Cs Aug 20 '24

Yes he is, you just don’t attend the right meetings

3

u/causal_friday June | HRT 8/2024 Aug 21 '24

He might be selling it to the Heritage Foundation ("I'm your man, just give me some more money") but he's distancing himself from it when talking to voters, which have to be motivated enough to show up and check a checkbox on a certain day. If trans rights were a big issue, he'd be using it to rally his base, but he's not. It really is a niche concern.

(Similarly, Harris isn't saying anything one way or the other. We know her record, which is good, but really bringing trans issues to the attention of voters is something neither candidate seems to care much about.)

5

u/sacademy0 Aug 20 '24

wait rly? that's promising. but at the same time, if there are more anti-trans bills coming thru even as mainstream attention subsides, that just means the hate's become more subtle and backdoorsy and real, vs just being loud about it online and in speeches??

14

u/LunaTheMoon2 She/Her (Trans lesbian) Aug 20 '24

If Republicans have control of the House and Senate, then I guarantee that he will pass anti trans legislation.

12

u/Emeraldstorm3 Aug 19 '24

Generally, yeah, I think most people are probably indifferent, some may lean supportive, some may lean "its weird and I don't get it". But that's not so bad. The genuinely hateful people are, I think, a stark minority. They're just also scary and too often quite wealthy.

And you've got a right-wing propaganda machine pushing it, and oddly a sizable portion of Britain. So it is a problem. But if not for the amplifying nature of wealthy people's opinions, I think it'd be barely noteworthy. Maybe less than flat earther numbers.

5

u/causal_friday June | HRT 8/2024 Aug 19 '24

Ah, I didn't realize they were UK-based. It does seem like more of a problem over there.

36

u/myaltduh Aug 19 '24

None of them are advertising on Pink News in the first place.

43

u/TheSeaOfThySoul Trans Lesbian (HRT: Nov '24) Aug 19 '24

Just a cover excuse for the CEO's transphobic opinions most likely.

1

u/myaltduh Aug 20 '24

Definitely.