Today the New York Post published an article that not only made light of a vicious attack on a transgender woman of color, but also used offensive and transphobic language to describe her.
In the article titled “Beau-Tra**y Street ‘Beat,’” authors Jamie Schram, Rebecca Rosenberg and Don Kaplan, recount an incident in which a New York firefighter and 2011 FDNY calendar model chased and attacked his transgender girlfriend in Midtown two weeks ago. Only, instead of telling a fair and balanced story that accurately contextualizes the real danger Ms. Charriez faced, they used this horrible incident as an opportunity to trivialize the concrete harms transgender women of color face, ultimately dehumanizing the victim and contributing to the attitude that often leads to this type of violence. In addition, the paper used offensive language in both the headline and throughout the story, reflecting a lack of understanding among its reporters and editors around proper terminology.
But this is hardly the first time the Post has carelessly reported on transgender violence. Since the mid-1980s, the post has misreported and mistold the stories of transgender people. Even earlier this month, the paper inaccurately reported the murder of Camila Guzman, a transgender Latina who was found in her apartment hours after being attacked by her boyfriend, referring to her by her given name and erroneously using male pronouns to describe her. (GLAAD reached out to the paper to demand they correct its misrepresentations. It did not. )
The Post’s nonchalant and ‘humorous’ telling of Ms. Charriez’s story is alarming and dangerous. It sends the message to readers that it is ‘OK’ to attack women, in particular transgender women, and does nothing to highlight the very real threat of violence many transgender women of color face of a daily basis.
GLAAD urges the New York Post to reconsider its journalistic integrity and turn away from irresponsible and sensationalized “journalism.” We also seriously question any media outlet that uses opportunities such as this to fuel the bias that breeds violence and discrimination.