Megyn Kelly

—Calls transgender healthcare “a weird form of conversion therapy,” cited inaccurate and out of date statistics about “desistance,” and incorrectly states that puberty blockers cause sterility. Health care for transgender people and youth is mainstream medical care supported by every major medical association and leading world health authority. 

—Writes that she’s “done with ‘preferred pronouns,’” in an essay that misgenders trans people (including Lia Thomas) and baselessly argues that “the trans lobby… means to deprive women of their spaces and rights.” Kelly incorrectly describes transgender healthcare as subjecting children to “dangerous interventions in school or at the hands of so-called medical professionals,” and, without supporting evidence, describes pronouns as a “gateway drug.” A survey from the Trevor Project indicates that in fact “transgender and nonbinary youth attempt suicide less when their pronouns are respected, when they are allowed to officially change the gender marker on their legal documents, and when they have access to spaces (online, at school, and home) that affirm their gender identity.” Her claims that she previously personally affirmed the pronouns of trans people is not factual [see below].

—Attacked Target’s Pride collection saying that Gays Against Groomers, a group that spreads disinformation about transgender people, “is right,” and if “you’re marketing this stuff to little kids, you are a groomer.” As highlighted in GLAAD’s 2023 Social Media Safety Index report, the anti-LGBTQ “groomer” trope, and similar baseless and dangerous rhetoric falsely asserting that LGBTQ people are threats to children, is dangerous hate speech which has been popularized to foment fear and hatred, and ultimately violence, against LGBTQ people and the LGBTQ community—specifically on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. 

—Challenged pro-equality actor Charlize Theron to “come and [expletive] me up” after Theron said, “I will [expletive] anybody up who is, like, trying to [expletive] with anything with drag queens,” during the 2023 “Drag Isn’t Dangerous” telethon which raised over $600,000 to support drag performers and pro-LGBTQ causes. Kelly said “OK, so why doesn’t Charlize Theron come and [expletive] me up? Because I’m 100% against her on this.” Kelly also baselessly said drag includes “the grooming of young children.” 

—Was featured at a high-dollar event to raise money for Moms for Liberty, a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “extremist group.” Moms for Liberty has connections to anti-LGBTQ politicians including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and longtime anti-LGBTQ groups like Heritage Foundation, despite false claims that it is a grassroots organization of moms. 

—Platformed Steven Crowder on her show after he had been suspended from YouTube multiple times for anti-LGBTQ hate speech and misinformation. On Kelly’s show episode Crowder lied about a trans inmate impregnating another inmate in a California women’s prison, an incident that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) says did not happen. Crowder mocked trans parents as “one stop short of Buffalo Bill” (a disparaging reference to a serial killer character in Silence of the Lambs). Kelly, noting she could not confirm his claims, nevertheless said, “none of this needs to be confirmed.”  

—Misgendered a transgender prison inmate and dismissed her appeals for necessary medical treatment. Media Matters reports that “On the April 4, 2013, edition of America Live, Kelly repeatedly and inaccurately referred to a transgender inmate as a male and suggested that taxpayers shouldn’t be required to cover the costs of her ‘elective surgery.’ Kelly also mocked the suggestion that the inmate should be housed with other female inmates, lamenting that she would get ‘a get-out-of-male-prison-free card.’ ” 

—Mocked a trans person’s appearance on a January 11, 2013, edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. Kelly and host Bill O’Reilly mocked a transgender woman’s appearance and repeatedly misgendered her. She was incarcerated in a men’s prison. Transgender women are at far greater risk of harassment, physical and sexual violence in men’s prisons or shelters.

—Claimed without basis that accepting trans students causes problems for other students. Media Matters reports that, “After a Texas school reportedly fired two staff members for refusing to accept a transgender boy as a boy, Kelly questioned on the [November 9, 2015] edition of her show whether there was ‘any consideration given to the confusion this was going to cause the rest of the children.’ Kelly continuously misgendered the child throughout the segment, asking, ‘with all sympathy and empathy for that child and what she is going through, was there no consideration given to what this would put the other children through?’ ”

—Repeatedly hosted Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council (FRC). FRC was labeled an anti-gay “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010, yet Kelly has described FRC as “a group whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and culture from a Christian worldview.” SPLC gives the “hate group” designation given to anti-LGBTQ organizations that either intentionally spread misinformation to advance their agenda or have worked to criminalize LGBTQ people. Kelly has also employed Perkins’ talking points that “Christian beliefs and Christian rights” are being trampled as LGBT rights increase” without evidence or basis. Kelly hosted Perkins at least 34 times on Fox News’ The Kelly File. 

—Suggested that HGTV cancelled anti-gay and anti-Muslim Benham Brothers’ show over their views, and falsely claimed that Christians’ rights aren’t as “protected and recognized in this country” as LGBTQ people’s rights. Kelly suggested that while HGTV would have been condemned for canceling a show featuring gay stars, the Benham brothers were being punished “because gay rights are more and more protected and recognized in this country. Christian beliefs and Christian rights, not so much.”