First Victory of Pa. Coalition for Trans Youth

The PA. COALITION FOR TRANS YOUTH ends 2021 on a high note and is proud to announce our first victory in fighting hate, bigotry, and discrimination from legislators, media, and hate groups here in Pennsylvania. We as a coalition vowed to support our defenseless trans kids, their families and to stand up for what is right for "all groups of people" no matter their gender identity, sexual orientation, color, ethnicity, faith, etc. The following is an issue we had addressed with WHP 21 News in Harrisburg, Pa., and Sinclair Broadcasting in relation to the inappropriate, unacceptable article on Lia Thomas the trans swimmer from University of Pennsylvania.

My name is MacKenzie from the PA Coalition for Trans Youth. We just spoke on the phone regarding News 21's article about Lia Thomas, a swimmer at University of Pennsylvania.

Other than the clear undertones of transphobia throughout the article, we, the Coalition for Trans Youth, have two main issues with this article:

First, in paragraph two, the article reads "22-year-old Lia Thomas, who previously competed for three seasons with the university men's team as their birth self, but using her birth name (called dead naming)…" You may not know this, but it is very offensive, damaging, and hurtful to dead name someone. Not only is this inappropriate for the swimmer the article is talking about, but it is also inappropriate for the trans community at large and does unnecessary harm without adding anything to the article.

Secondly, in paragraph four, the article quotes an anonymous interview that was conducted by another news source called Outkick. As of two weeks ago, Outkick had an Extreme Right bias rating from the independent bias rating website Media Bias/Fact Check (https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/outkick/) which uses strict methodology to assess bias rating. What's more, the content of the double hearsay anonymous quotes from the far-right news source with an extreme bias rating, is offensive, transphobic, and entirely unverifiable.

I understand that the National news desk and the Local news desk have split authority over what gets published, but the grievances committed by this article are serious and as a representative of the PA Coalition for Trans Youth, I respectfully ask that News 21 remove the article from their site or at the very least revise the article to remove the offensive and uncalled-for dead naming of the college-age swimmer and unverifiable quotes from an "anonymous" interview done by a biased far-right news source.

Thank you for your attentiveness to this important matter. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely,

MacKenzie Palmer

On Dec 21, 2021, at 5:44 AM, #Harrisburg-WHP-News wrote:

I have reviewed the link that you sent us.

We did not write the article, but I was able to remove it from our website.

Although some damage may have already been done, their removal of the article from their media was the responsible and acceptable thing to do. On behalf of Janelle Kayla Crossley (PCTY), Daye Pope (TAKE), MacKenzie Palmer (TAKE) and EVERY MEMBER of The Pa. Coalition for Trans Youth, we are all dedicated, persistent, and driven to "equality for all people" and providing visibility, awareness, and education. WE WILL NOT BE SILENT.