Gabrielle Union, Jameela Jamil sign the trans letter from GLAAD

Judd Apatow, Margaret Cho, Wilson Cruz, Tommy Dorfman, Lena Dunham, Jameela Jamil, Gabrielle Union-Wade and Jonathan Van Ness are among the celebrities who signed an open letter from GLAAD to the New York Times expressing the statements criticizing the LGBTQ+ advocacy group is “irresponsible, biased reporting about transgender people.”

“It is appalling that the Times is devoting so many resources and pages to spreading the voices of anti-LGBTQ extremist activists who have built their careers on denigrating and dehumanizing LGBTQ people, especially transgender people,” says the letter, which was delivered on Wednesday.

“While there were some fair stories, mostly human interest stories, these articles are not front page front page or push notifications to app users like irresponsible articles are.”

While Cruz retweeted A Hollywood Reporter article about the letter, most other celebs haven’t commented on the issue via Twitter or Instagram.

The letter highlighted what the group has done so far to “educate” the New York Times on transgender issues and was signed by stakeholders including the Human Rights Campaign, the Women’s March and PFLAG. Demands were also made.

“We will not stand for the Times spreading platform lies, prejudice, fringe theories and dangerous inaccuracies. We demand fair reporting, we demand that the Times platform use trans voices as both sources and full-time writers and editors, and we demand a meeting between Times leadership and the transgender community,” the letter said.

A second letter went out later Wednesday — signed by more than 180 New York Times employees and contributors.

GLAAD said on its website that the NYT did not directly respond to either letter. However, in a statement to Mediaite, the publication said: “We received the letter from GLAAD and welcome their feedback. We understand how GLAAD views our coverage. But at the same time, we recognize that GLAAD’s advocacy mission and The Times’ journalistic mission are different.”

A day after both letters were sent, the Times published columnist Pamela Paul’s controversial defense of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has repeatedly hit back at criticism of her transphobic comments.

Meanwhile, New York Times editor-in-chief Joe Kahn wrote an internal memo criticizing those who signed the second letter.

“Participating in such a campaign is against the letter and spirit of our ethics policy,” Kahn wrote in the memo, seen by the Daily Beast semaphore.

Later in the memo, he wrote, “We do not welcome or tolerate participation by Times journalists in protests organized by interest groups, or attacks on colleagues on social media and other public forums.”

Incidentally, Rowling says in the upcoming Free Press podcast, The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, that her inflammatory comments were “deeply” misunderstood.

The Free Press is an independent media start-up founded by former New York Times columnist and editor Bari Weiss, who left the paper in 2020 after saying she was bullied by fellow editors who ” false thinking”. social problems button.