Timeline: Trans Woman Asks Joe Biden a Question
by Trans Spyglass
Dylan Mulvaney, from her website
This is our timeline coverage of right wing outrage over Dylan Mulvaney, a trans woman and an actress and comedian, who asked one question (with a follow up) of Joe Biden during an interview for NowThis News, a left leaning, social media focused news organization.
This story originated with the interview itself, which had a forum style. Several different people were brought into the White House by NowThis, to ask a question on a particular topic. The full interview, in which Mulvaney is one of six people to ask one question each, can be found on YouTube.
Mulvaney’s segment starts with a video introduction to her bio as a trans woman who is documenting her transition on social media (mainly on Instagram and TikTok). She opens her question with a version of what seems to be her tagline: “Mr. President, this is my 221st day of publicly transitioning.”
The full question:
I am extremely privileged to live in a state that allows me access to the resources I need, and that decision is just between me and my doctors. But many states have lawmakers that feel like they can involve themselves in this very personal process. Do you think states should have a right to ban gender-affirming healthcare?
and the follow up:
It feels like Republicans have turned trans and nonbinary people into this “thing” to blame society’s downfall on in some ways. And this narrative is not only dangerous to our mental health but also our physical safety. And particularly trans women of color are being murdered at an alarming rate. How can Democratic leaders be more effective in advocating for us trans people, in our families, in our lives, in our opportunities?
Biden answered that states should not have the right to involve themselves “as a moral question and a legal question.”
The initial reaction from the right wing press was to denounce Biden’s response as radical. But extremists soon turned to sifting through Mulvaney’s work, which is around when we first covered the story. These extremists surfaced a TikTok where Mulvaney talked about getting funny looks from strangers because she wore tight shorts and realizing it was because she hadn’t tucked her penis. She sang a song about normalizing women having bulges, and how she didn’t deserve to be stared at. This became the focus for the attacks on her, and on Biden for having answered her question in the NowThis forum, which are continuing as of this writing.
We present our timelines in reverse chronological order. To jump to the beginning (in this case context for OutKick’s pre-existing obsession with Mulvaney), click here.
10/28/2022
Transphobia News Inc Again, Again, Again: The Washington Examiner rounds things off (for now, we will post updates) with an opinion piece that really hits all the bases. Calls Mulvaney a man, repeats misleading information about the English National Health Service, and relentlessly attacks the Joe Biden, the current Democratic president.
10/27/2022
British Magazine, less paywall: We were able to read this post in Spectator World, a spinoff of the British Spector Magazine, about the incident. It called for a “strong” social conservatism, and we found we wished we hadn’t. It’s ugly, dehumanizing stuff for a trans person, graphically depicting and misleading readers about the details and results of transgender medical procedures.
Transphobia News, Inc Again, Again: Another post in the Washington Examiner uses Biden’s answers to Mulvaney as a jumping off point to write misleadingly about the evidence behind gender affirming medicine.
Also LGBTQ Press: Gay news site Queerty writes up Jenner’s attack on Mulvaney.
Right Wing Tabloid, Again, Again: The New York Post (again, yes) publishes some comments by the current detransitioned poster-girl of the far right, 18-year-old Chloe Cole. Cole is not a fan of Biden’s answer to Mulvaney in support of allowing access to transition, in her role as an advocate against allowing anyone else to to access evidence-based treatments that seem not to have worked for her.
Mainstream LGBTQ Press: The Advocate, an older, mainstream LGBTQ+ news site, writes up the story with a focus on Blackburn’s comments.
Celebrity Gossip: Radar Online, a gossip site for celebrity news, writes about Jenner’s attack on Mulvaney. Going purely on their picture choice, we think they’re more in Mulvaney’s corner. (It can be hard to tell with gossip rags.)
Right Wing Tabloid, Again: The New York Post returns to the story to describe Caitlyn Jenner’s comment that Mulvaney’s behavior should not be normalized as Jenner “slamming” her.
UK LGBTQ Media, Again: Pink News returns to the story to cover the attacks on Mulvaney from the US right, mentioning Jenner.
FOX News Again, etc: Being, apparently, all in on the story of Joe Biden being asked one question by a trans woman, Fox News returns to cover Caitlyn Jenner’s comments about Mulvaney.
10/26/2022
Legacy Music Mag: Rolling Stone Magazine, a mainstream to left-leaning publication which focuses on music and other cultural stories, covers the story after Caitlyn Jenner criticizes Mulvaney. (Assigned also returned to the story on the occasion of Jenner’s comments.)
FOX News, Again, Again, Again: Fox News has an interview with a former college swimmer who accuses Mulvaney of being a man with a fetish.
Tiny Crazy Ben Shapiro: In a column we found on a syndication service, extreme right nutjob Ben Shapiro, who has long been obsessively and tediously transphobic, blames Mulvaney for the collapse of Western Civilization, because the only drama queen that Ben Shapiro can accept existing is Ben Shapiro.
Those Guys: Condenast’s LGBTQ+ News site has the meta story of attacks on Mulvaney from the right wing, focusing on attacks by Blackburn and other politicians. (Very useful coverage here for researchers.)
UK LGBTQ Media: Pink News, an LGBTQ+ news website in the UK, has a positive write-up of Mulvaney’s segment.
Trans Quisling: Debbie Hayton, a trans woman who opposes equal rights for trans people, writes about Mulvaney on UnHerd, a British commentary website with an anti-trans bias. It includes a petty, biting swipe at Mulvaney for being “self-absorbed”.
Fundies: The Fundamentalist Christian website the Daily Citizen, a project of Focus on the Family, pretends to fact check Mulvaney and inserts misinformation about the legislative goals of the right wing, and then goes into a lot of biblical mumbo-jumbo no normal person would care about.
Fringe Australian Website: Mercatornet, one of two websites owned by Michael Cook, again uses the interview as a pretext to launch into some misinformation about the evidence behind gender-affirming treatment for minors.
10/25/2022
Heritage Mouthpiece: The Daily Signal, a right wing outlet, funded by the Heritage Foundation, which likes to cosplay as investigative journalism, has a truly ugly and despicable piece which is filled with cheap shots and misinformation about transgender healthcare. Their headline:
Mainstream Television News: The website for the very mainstream NBC News posts in the wake of Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee tweeting a criticism of Mulvaney.
Right Wing Humor: A conservative talk radio “comedy” show featuring the founder of Outkick, The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, posts with the headline “That Bulge is a Penis.” (Assigned doesn’t monitor radio directly, but we assume the topic was also discussed on the radio.)
Right Wing Talk Radio: A right wing talk radio station serving Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas does a segment on Mulvaney, headlined: “Mary Walter Rips Dylan Mulvaney’s Attempt to “Normalize” Women With Bulges.”
Transphobia News, Inc Again: The Washington Examiner writes a post which is primarily a vehicle for misinformation about gender affirming medicine.
Pretensions of Grandeur: The National Review, which thinks itself a “premiere destination” for conservative news and opinion, has a very brief write up.
TV, or Not TV: “Post cable” Christian broadcasting company FISM TV writes up a story including many harsh tweets and comments by conservatives, but without a particularly harsh focus on Mulvaney/her video.
FOX News Again, Again: For the first time, FOX writes mostly about Mulvaney and her song about normalizing bulges, credits Clay Travis of anti-woke sports blog OutKick for surfacing the video on Twitter. (This was also when assigned first covered the story, find our post here.)
Australian Queer News: OUT in Perth, an LGBTQ+ media outlet in, well, Perth, Australia, has a story about the segment which mentions harsh criticisms of Mulvaney for her camp style.
FOX News Again: Another anti-Biden story on Fox, again with little focus on Mulvaney.
UK Conservative Newspaper: The Times, a conservative leaning daily newspaper in the UK, covers the story. It is probably a fairly straightforward news piece with an anti-trans lean from (can’t be 100 percent sure bc we’re out of free articles).
Fringe Australian Website: BioEdge, a website by Australian kook and propagandist Michael Cook, uses the interview as a pretext to launch into some misinformation about the evidence behind gender-affirming treatment for minors.
Falun Gong Loonies: The Epoch Times, a far right news organization owned by the Falun Ging religious group, has a write up critical of Biden. The piece which includes misinformation about desistance rates, but does not harshly attack Mulvaney.
Argentinian Conservative Media: El American, a right wing conservative website based in Argentina and serving a Latin American audience, writes that Biden is promoting gender ideology and surgery on minors.
FOX News: Right wing, Trumpist media conglomerate Fox News covers the story with a framing critical of Biden and suggesting this will hurt him in the midterms, but without harsh attacks on Mulvaney.
10/24/2022
Right Wing Tabloid: The New York Post accuses the president of “endors[ing] the most radical trans madness.”
An Arm of a Media Octopus: The National Catholic Register, one of countless Catholic news sites, covers the story, referring to Mulvaney as a “controversial transgender activist.” Mulvaney is an actor and comedian.
British Paywalled Magazine: We did not get to read this paywalled article in a spin off from a British magazine, but it seems very transphobic from what we can see if it. (Support us so we can afford to buy subscriptions!)
Not Sure Abt These Weirdoes: A site called Eurasia Review posts an opinion piece by William Donahue that is the first/one of the first to go extremely nasty in its treatment of Mulvaney. At this writing we were unclear how to best describe Eurasia Review, which claims to be combatting US-centric bias and is owned by a PR firm based in Oregon.
Transphobia News, Inc: The Washington Examiner, a right wing, tabloid-style news site which specializes in sensationalized transphobic headlines, has a reasonably straightforward news treatment of the exchange. Their reporter mentions something we also picked up on, about Biden’s comments. (Their story was also syndicated.)
Queer Media: LGBTQ Nation, a queer news outlet, writes positively on the segment soon after it was posted. Their coverage includes representative quotes from Biden’s answers and embeds video of Mulvaney’s segment.
Joe Biden Interview: It all starts with a forum style interview for NowThis News. Six people were tapped to ask a question on a particular topic. The full interview, in which Mulvaney asks one question, can be found on YouTube.
EXTRA:
10/17/2022
Anti-Woke Sports Blog: The reactionaries at OutKick, whose founder was credited by FOX news for surfacing the TikTok of Mulvaney’s where she sings a silly song about bulges, posted harshly about Mulvaney several days before the NowThis interview with Biden. (We think those guys should stick to sports and stop being so political.)