Bad Ink: How The New York Times Sold Out Transgender Teens

Beginning in 2015 just as A. G. Sulzberger was taking over as Publisher, the New York Times underwent a strange shift: from its long-time support for transgender rights overnight it became the nation’s leading voice attacking transgender kids. In nearly 70,000 words in dozens of articles, it attacked their right to transition, to medical care, to sports participation—even the very idea that they were transgender. It was—as Tom Scocca summed up in Popula— “a plain old-fashioned newspaper crusade,”

But the Times’ crusade wasn’t based on new reporting or fresh medical evidence, but on talking points being promoted by white Christian nationalist organizations devoted to eradicating gay and transgender people. And it was timed just as MAGA politicians introduced over 1,000 bills in scores of states to outlaw every aspect of trans kids’ lives.

It was all apparently part of Sulzberger’s new plan to remake that liberal rag so it could appeal to right-wing readers for the digital age. And unfortunately, it worked.

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 "A much-needed book that only becomes more necessary by the day, Wilchins' BAD INK presents an unflinching, clear-eyed analysis of the role the Times has played in reversing the course of trans rights."

--Harron Walker, VICE

Combining close readings of the Times, robust factchecking, astute observation, and Wilchins’ signature cutting prose, BAD INK is a must-read book for anyone who wants to understand how we got where we are today.

--TJ Billard, PhD

Assoc. Professor, Northwestern Univ. & Director, Center for Applied Transgender Studies

I can't stop reading this book! Bad Ink is the clearest, most coherent dissection of the Times’ decision to trade journalistic integrity for clicks at the expense of trans kids. Every reporter should be tasked with reading this book!

--Kate Sosin, The 19th News