In 2018, Jesse Singal wrote a controversial cover story in The Atlantic, "When a Child Says She's Trans." Focused on teens who de-transitioned, it appealed to skeptics and critics of gender-affirming care, but offered little acknowledgement to the majority of young transfolk who are happy to have affirmed their genders. Needless to say, many trans people were not pleased with Singal's article. They were, as is often the case in mainstream journalism, cut out of their own stories.
Since then, Singal's committed himself to such "rational skeptic" punditry, with a substack, a podcast and social media presence snarled up in the topic of transgender life. Typically, this means cherry-picking the evidence from scientific papers and countering critics with a stream of academese and anecdote.
Flash forward to this year. In February 2023, Bari Weiss's The Free Press published a first-person account from a former caseworker at a clinic for trans youth in St. Louis, who claimed she was drawing attention to the "morally and medically appalling" practices at said clinic. As is often the case with Weiss's writing, it was an emotional appeal, light on facts, relying on cryptic allusions to worst-case-scenario fears. The author of the piece, Jamie Reed, claims to be a whistleblower and urged the state to end these supposedly horrid practices. The lawyer representing her is both an elected official and a representative of a transphobic "child protection" organization.
Reed's essay initial...
Dangote Group has dismissed as false and malicious a publication alleging that its President, Aliko Dangote, distanced himself from Tony Elumelu, describing the report as entirely baseless. In a s...