GLAAD, the world”™s largest LGBTQ-focused media advocacy group, is criticizing The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) for the recent hiring of attorney and writer David French as a columnist, claiming that he has a history of fostering anti-LGBTQ sentiment.
GLAAD cited National Reviews column written by French that sought to refute existence of transgender people and argued against the U.S. Department of Defense”™s decision to lift the ban on transgender members of the military. The organization also questioned his legal representation of Alliance Defending Freedom, which it defined as seeking to condone discrimination against LGBTQ people in general and transgender people in particular.
“It is appalling that The New York Times hired and is now boasting about bringing on David French, a writer and attorney with a deep history of anti-LGBTQ activism,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “A cursory search for French turns up numerous anti-LGBTQ articles and his record as an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group that actively spreads misinformation about LGBTQ people and pushes baseless legislation and lawsuits to legalize discrimination, including just last month at the Supreme Court.”
Ellis added that the Times”™ announcement of French”™s hiring “forgot to mention his work as a co-signer on the 2017 Nashville Statement, which erased LGBTQ voices of faith and falsely stated ”˜that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transgenderism.”™ The Times had the gall to claim French as a ”˜faith”™ expert despite this known history.”
Ellis also criticized the Times for its 2022 decision to drop the column of transgender writer Jenny Boylan while hiring Pamela Paul, whom Ellis said “has devoted columns to anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ disinformation, and David French. This reflects a growing trend on the news and opinion pages of misguided, inaccurate, and disingenuous ”˜both sides”™ fearmongering and bad faith ”˜just asking questions”™ coverage. The Times started 2023 by bragging about hiring another anti-trans writer, so LGBTQ leaders, organizations and allies should make a 2023 resolution not to stay silent as the Times platforms lies, bias, fringe theories, and dangerous inaccuracies.”
Photo courtesy Macmillan
