News/Commentary

‘Complete betrayal’: Fox News sees heated backlash over segment promoting child’s gender transition

June 12, 2022 | | Print Article

Fox News has triggered a revolt among its mostly conservative base for running a one-sided segment about a family that began transitioning their daughter to a transgender boy when she was only five years old.

Aired on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” this Friday as part of the network’s “America Together: LGBTQ+ Pride Month” series, the segment essentially promoted transgender boy Ryland Whittington’s transition like it was a good thing.

In fact, at the end of the segment, reporter Bryan Llenas praised the transgender boy, Ryland Whittington, for having the “courage” to transition and then praised Whittington’s parents and sister for being fully supportive of the transition.

“What extraordinary courage displayed by Ryland, his sister Brinley, father Jeff, and mom Hillary. I want to thank the Whittington family for speaking to us. It’s not easy, particularly at a time when when transgender issues have been politicized. People are afraid of what they do not understand. This family hopes their story will lead to more understanding, more acceptance, and ultimately more love,” Llenas said.

He later promoted the segment on Twitter:

Many members of Fox News’ mostly conservative base are now gunning for the jobs of both Llenas and producer Melissa Chrise for running such a one-sided segment devoid of any pushback and criticism.

For instance, Matt Walsh, the star of the recent documentary “What is a Woman?“, questioned the idea peddled by Llenas that Whittington “came out” as transgender at the mere age of five.

“The reporter says that the child announced a new gender as a toddler. Does Fox want us to believe that BABIES can choose their gender? This is the most extreme, radical, dangerous form of gender ideology. And it’s being promoted on Fox News,” Walsh wrote in a viral Twitter thread.

“The poor kid is 14 now with a permanently altered body, condemned to live forever with an identity imposed as a small child. It is horrifying, evil, and sick. And it is what Fox chose to promote.”

View the whole thread below:

To be fair, Whittington stills stands by the decision to transition. The problem is that Fox News chose to not offer any coverage of the numerous transgender people — boys, girls, men and women — who now regret having transitioned.

But to be fair again to Fox News, it’s not just a Fox News phenomenon. Big Think magazine notes that “missing in the research literature on gender dysphoria and transition is comprehensive data on a particular subpopulation: detransitioners.”

Why? Critics say it’s because detransitioners buck the left’s preferred narrative. And indeed, far-left activists often argue against the media covering detransitioners because such coverage “risk[s] fueling transphobia, delegitimizing the transgender experience, and discouraging young people with gender dysphoria from pursuing transitioning.”

Those who do cover this topic usually face certain consequences:

Detransitioning is nevertheless a vital topic of discussion because “[t]he vast majority of children who display signs of gender dysphoria desist over time,” according to conservative commentator and radio show host Ben Shapiro.

In his own series of tweets, he drew attention to another shocking tidbit from the Fox News segment — an observation by Llenas that “before Rylan could even speak, he managed to tell his parents that he is a boy” via his behavior.

“I could just see it wasn’t him trying to be a brat. It was, like, painful — it was truly painful for him to have to wear feminine clothing and for us constantly telling him that you’re a girl,” Ryland’s mother explained at one point in the segment.

Shapiro was deeply troubled by this.

“Every element of this video is propagandistic, dangerous garbage. The report states that this biologically female child was choosing her gender BEFORE SHE COULD SPEAK. This is madness,” he tweeted.

View his full Twitter thread below:

Walsh and Shapiro are by no means the only Fox News viewers lashing out. Twitter is brimming with users vowing to cancel their Fox Nation subscription and/or stop watching Fox News because of this unexpected segment.

The general consensus is that if Fox News wanted to cover the story of this family, they should have at least offered pushback instead of airing a pure “propaganda” piece more befitting an establishment outlet like CNN or MSNBC.

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Vivek Saxena
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