Washington Post Uses Polling to Whitewash Trump Anti-Trans Turn

David Byler writes in the Washington Post Opinion section that trans rights are growing less popular, putting a bland face on an escalating strategy of fear-mongering and discriminatory law.

by Evan Urquhart

A piece in the Washington Post Opinion section juxtaposed the extreme policy proposals of Donald Trump, policies which would enshrine a definition of man and woman in law and target gender affirming medical care for youth and adults, with polling that shows public support for trans people weakening somewhat.

Opinion writer David Byler didn’t offer any analysis of why public opinion has shifted within an atmosphere of unrelenting coverage on the right demonizing trans people, which has been the focus of this project, along with coverage in the mainstream amplifying and normalizing concerns that there are too many trans kids. He likewise neglected to offer any opinion about the content of Trump’s policy proposals, which would make it illegal for Medicaid and Medicare to cover transition, even for adults.

This move represents a whitewashing of the attacks on trans people from the right, and an attempt to re-write history to make these attacks seem to have resulted from a shift in public opinion, rather than public opinion having been shifted by the attacks. Ironically, this story itself may amplify the effect, further cementing the idea that anti-trans views are common and reasonable in the public’s mind. In a time of escalating stigma and reactionary backlash resulting in street violence and hundreds of anti-trans laws, the Washington Post may be indicating they’re willing to stand aside and let the trans community serve as a scapegoat for the Trumpist GOP.