Transphobes Dominate Trans Content on Facebook
Anti-LGBTQ sources continue to infl uence queer-related narratives on social media
BY MATT TRACY
Transgender-related content posted
by right-wing Facebook pages generate
the most reactions, comments,
and shares regarding trans people,
a Media Matters study revealed, clearly demonstrating
the power of transphobic sources to
infl uence public perception of the community.
The study was published less than a year after
Gay City News found that Google was propping
up anti-LGBTQ news sites like Church
Militant and LifeSite News.
The latest study noted that LifeSite News and
The Daily Wire posted the most high-performing
content about transgender issues compared
to any other source on Facebook.
Media Matters evaluated 225 Facebook posts
pertaining to trans issues, including articles,
blog posts, and videos that generated at least
100,000 Facebook interactions between February
15, 2019 and February 15, 2020 — a total
of almost 66 million interactions.
Right-leaning sources overwhelmingly drew
the greatest share of those interactions, accounting
for 43.33 million, or 65.7 percent of
the total. By comparison, LGBTQ outlets earned
just 15.4 percent of the total interactions, while
“nonaligned sources” got 10.4 percent and “leftleaning”
sources made up 3.9 percent. “Other”
sources represented 4.6 percent.
The right-wing sources also published the
most posts pertaining to trans issues — 126 of
the 225 pieces of content, or 56 percent.
Notably, there was barely any room for LGBTQ
➤ NEW HOPE, from p.16
that looks neutral and generally applicable on
its face is shown to have been motivated by government
animus toward particular religious
practices.
The appeals court also took note of the Supreme
Court’s 2018 decision in Masterpiece
Cakeshop, where it reversed a state court ruling
that Masterpiece violated public accommodations
law by refusing to make a custom wedding
cake for a same-sex couple. The high court
concluded that Colorado’s civil rights agency
had displayed hostility to the baker’s religious
views in its administrative hearing process.
Government discrimination against religious
organizations was also targeted by the Supreme
Court in the term just ended when it held that
the State of Montana’s scholarship program for
students attending private schools could not exclude
religious schools from participating, since
this would be “discrimination” against religion.
REUTERS/ ERIN SCOTT
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been under fi re since his social
media platform has become a hotbed of anti-LGBTQ sources.
inclusive perspectives in the list of top Facebook
posts pertaining to trans issues: Nine
of the top 10 pieces of content were posted by
right-wing sources, including all of the top fi ve
pieces,
More specifi cally, 53 pieces of content related
to transgender athletes generated 21.21 million
interactions and made up 23.6 percent of the
entirety of the 225 pieces of content under consideration
for this study. The top-performing
post of all, the study noted, was a blog post published
by the anti-LGBTQ litigation group Alliance
Defending Freedom that attacked transgender
athletes.
The Second Circuit also rejected the trial
court’s analysis of New Hope’s argument that
requiring it to evaluate and endorse same-sex
couples as adoptive parents was a form of compelled
speech. District Judge D’Agostino found
that this would be “government speech,” because
New York State was delegating to New
Hope a governmental function. Circuit Judge
Raggi questioned this conclusion, pointing out
that New Hope was not a government contractor
and was not paid by the government to undertake
its adoption work. Rather, it is an independent
agency supported by fees for its services
and charitable contributions. New Hope has
always avoided taking government money because
it wanted to preserve its freedom to operate
consistent with its religious beliefs.
Raggi also took note of the US Supreme
Court’s decision to review the Third Circuit
Court of Appeals’ decision in Fulton v. City of
Philadelphia, a similar case in many ways. The
SOCIAL MEDIA
Among other topics, trans healthcare also
drew a great deal of attention from the right.
Thirty-three of the 225 pieces of content, or 14.7
percent pertained to medical care for transgender
individuals, leading to 10.33 million interactions,
and 27 of those 33 pieces came from
right-wing pages. A whopping 4.41 million interactions
stemmed from a Texas custody battle
focused on a trans child whose father does not
accept his son’s gender identity, with right-wing
sources being the only ones to publish those
pieces.
The results of the study surfaced at a time
of heightened focus on the growing presence of
right-wing groups on social media platforms,
like US-based evangelical group Anchored
North, which paid for Facebook ads pushing
messages that encouraged individuals to “cure”
their sexual orientation and issued warnings
to queer folks that they would face “eternity in
hell,” according to PinkNews.
Those kinds of ads prompted more than 100
non-profi t, labor, faith-based, LGBTQ, and advocacy
groups associated with the Stop Hate for
Profi t Campaign to deliver a letter to Facebook
CEO Mark Zuckerberg this month demanding
that his social media platform stop raking in
profi ts from bigoted advertisers.
Facebook and Instagram announced they
would ban the promotion of conversion therapy
related content and would be updating their
hate speech policies to expicitly ban posts advertising
the practice.
Facebook did not respond to Gay City News’
request for comment about this study.
Third Circuit held that Philadelphia did not
violate Catholic Social Services’ constitutional
rights when it dropped that agency from participating
in the city’s foster care system because
it refused to deal with same-sex couples.
At least four Supreme Court justices, in various
dissenting or concurring opinions, have stated
the court should “revisit” the Employment Division
v. Smith holding, Raggi pointed out. If the
Supreme Court reverses the Fulton v. City of
Philadelphia decision or modifi es Employment
Division v. Smith, the rules governing the New
Hope case will be changed, especially since the
Catholic agency in the Philadelphia case was a
city contractor, unlike New Hope.
In light of the pace at which the district
court’s reevaluation of the New Hope case will
take place, it is likely that the Supreme Court
will have ruled in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia
before D’Agostino has to render a fi nal decision
on the merits regarding New Hope.
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