It is a fact that the Fox propaganda channel is virulently anti-LGBTQ. In just one example, Daily Kos’ Marissa Higgins has previously reported how the right-wing outlet has played a significant role in re-popularizing the Anita Bryant-era “groomer” slur against LGBTQ people.
Oh, but that’s just outright false, Fox might rebut. We honored LGBTQ Pride month just a couple weeks ago, it might insist. I mean, sure, it aired a promo commemorating the month, like lots of other companies did. But it did so after airing transphobic segments on the very first day of Pride. In fact, Fox attacked LGBTQ people for most of the month, research shows.
RELATED STORY: Fox News marks start of LGBTQ Pride Month by attacking trans people across multiple shows
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“Fox News attacked LGBTQ people at least once on 106 of the 181 days in the first half of 2022 (59%),” Media Matters for America reports. “Fox’s anti-LGBTQ attacks were particularly focused during LGBTQ Pride Month in June, with the network attacking the community at least once a day on 26 out of 30 days (87%).” The report said that anti-LGBTQ attacks included “falsely claiming that life-saving gender-affirming health care is ‘child abuse,’” misgendering trans people (which the network did on the first day of Pride month), and further “groomer” accusations.
“The network’s most popular star, Tucker Carlson, even repeatedly called for violence against teachers who discuss LGBTQ issues with their students,” the report continued. “Fox’s attacks come at a time when calls for violence against LGBTQ people are being answered by right-wing extremists.”
As previously noted, LGBTQ activist and journalist Michelangelo Signorile in April detailed Carlson’s “pathological obsession” with gay people, including a yearbook entry “listing the ‘Dan White Society’ as a club to which Carlson stated he belonged.” Dan White is the San Francisco elected official who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.
Fox only escalated its anti-LGBTQ attacks going as Pride month went on, Media Matters noted. “The network’s attacks in June were particularly concentrated in the second half of the month, with Fox hosts, correspondents, and guests attacking LGBTQ people at least once every day in the final 12 days of the month (June 19-30).”
The Fox Corporation had at one time not only held an LGBTQ-friendly employer status from the Human Rights Campaign, it proudly boasted about it. But the company lost that status in April due to its increasingly bigoted coverage. On the first day of Pride month, Lia Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania athlete who is also transgender, was repeatedly misgendered by contributor Katie Pavlich during a Fox and Friends appearance. Thomas was, in fact, the subject of transphobic attacks on at least three other Fox News programs. Media Matters said that on The Ingraham Angle, a guest “expressed opposition to the existence of trans children.”
Both Media Matters and LGBTQ blog Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters noted that the network then aired a Pride Month promo purporting to celebrate the “incredible contributions” of LGBTQ people. It was dated June 2, just one day after the attacks against Lia Thomas. There’s shameless, and then there’s Fox.
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RELATED STORIES:
Fox News is spewing fresh queerphobia with the latest grooming accusations against LGBTQ people
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Oh, but that’s just outright false, Fox might rebut. We honored LGBTQ Pride month just a couple weeks ago, it might insist. I mean, sure, it aired a promo commemorating the month, like lots of other companies did. But it did so after airing transphobic segments on the very first day of Pride. In fact, Fox attacked LGBTQ people for most of the month, research shows.
RELATED STORY: Fox News marks start of LGBTQ Pride Month by attacking trans people across multiple shows
Campaign Action
“Fox News attacked LGBTQ people at least once on 106 of the 181 days in the first half of 2022 (59%),” Media Matters for America reports. “Fox’s anti-LGBTQ attacks were particularly focused during LGBTQ Pride Month in June, with the network attacking the community at least once a day on 26 out of 30 days (87%).” The report said that anti-LGBTQ attacks included “falsely claiming that life-saving gender-affirming health care is ‘child abuse,’” misgendering trans people (which the network did on the first day of Pride month), and further “groomer” accusations.
“The network’s most popular star, Tucker Carlson, even repeatedly called for violence against teachers who discuss LGBTQ issues with their students,” the report continued. “Fox’s attacks come at a time when calls for violence against LGBTQ people are being answered by right-wing extremists.”
As previously noted, LGBTQ activist and journalist Michelangelo Signorile in April detailed Carlson’s “pathological obsession” with gay people, including a yearbook entry “listing the ‘Dan White Society’ as a club to which Carlson stated he belonged.” Dan White is the San Francisco elected official who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978.
Fox only escalated its anti-LGBTQ attacks going as Pride month went on, Media Matters noted. “The network’s attacks in June were particularly concentrated in the second half of the month, with Fox hosts, correspondents, and guests attacking LGBTQ people at least once every day in the final 12 days of the month (June 19-30).”
The Fox Corporation had at one time not only held an LGBTQ-friendly employer status from the Human Rights Campaign, it proudly boasted about it. But the company lost that status in April due to its increasingly bigoted coverage. On the first day of Pride month, Lia Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania athlete who is also transgender, was repeatedly misgendered by contributor Katie Pavlich during a Fox and Friends appearance. Thomas was, in fact, the subject of transphobic attacks on at least three other Fox News programs. Media Matters said that on The Ingraham Angle, a guest “expressed opposition to the existence of trans children.”
Both Media Matters and LGBTQ blog Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters noted that the network then aired a Pride Month promo purporting to celebrate the “incredible contributions” of LGBTQ people. It was dated June 2, just one day after the attacks against Lia Thomas. There’s shameless, and then there’s Fox.
We need your help to write 10,000,000 letters to infrequent but Democratic-leaning prospective voters in key congressional districts and Senate swing states this election, urging them to exercise their right to vote. Sign up with Vote Forward and join the most popular and effective Get Out the Vote (GOTV) activity in Daily Kos history.
RELATED STORIES:
Fox News is spewing fresh queerphobia with the latest grooming accusations against LGBTQ people
Conservatives are now saying parents should be arrested and kids taken away for pro-LGBTQ stances
Fox News complains over and over again about migrant infants getting baby formula