GLAAD RELEASES ANALYSIS OF COVERAGE OF TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS REGARDING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE

GLAAD STUDY: ONLY 13 OF 35 STORIES ABOUT ORDERS TARGETING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE INCLUDED A QUOTE FROM A TRANSGENDER PERSON;  ONLY 6 OF THE 13 STORIES THAT INCLUDED A TRANSGENDER PERSON HAD FACTS AND CONTEXT TO COUNTER WHITE HOUSE INACCURATE AND HARMFUL RHETORIC

GLAAD: “Transgender Americans are clearly under assault by this administration, including unprecedented attempts to erase and dehumanize. It is imperative that media covering the administration’s efforts to exclude transgender people report on this pattern of inaccurate, animus-filled behavior, and include the voices of transgender people and facts about experiences and lives. Reporters must take extra time to include the community, check facts, include context, and challenge what is being said and proposed.”

(March 3, 2025 – New York, NY) GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is releasing findings of an analysis of news coverage of Trump executive orders targeting transgender people.

Read the study here.
Downloadable graphics of the GLAAD study findings are available here.

GLAAD evaluated 35 first day stories from six of the largest media outlets about Trump executive orders targeting transgender people’s identity, military service, access to health care, access to education, and access to sports:

• Only 13 of 35 stories included at least one quote by a transgender person.
• Only 6 of the 13 stories that included a transgender person had facts and context to counter White House inaccurate and harmful rhetoric.
• 17 of the 22 stories that did not include a transgender person also did not include a quote from an LGBTQ person or group.
• 7 of the 35 stories included quotes from professionals with experience in the topics being discussed.
• 4 stories quoted an anonymous “White House official” who discussed restricting the rights of transgender people.

“Transgender Americans are clearly under assault by the Trump administration, including unprecedented attempts to erase and dehumanize,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis (she/her) said. “It is imperative that media covering the administration’s efforts to exclude transgender people report on this pattern of inaccurate, animus-filled behavior, and include the voices of transgender people and facts about lives and experiences. Reporters must take extra time to include the community, check facts, include context, and challenge what is being said and proposed.”

“When only 28% of non-LGBTQ Americans say they personally know a trans person, news stories about our community are an extraordinary opportunity to humanize, or demonize us,” said GLAAD’s Shane Diamond (he/him), Director of Communications and Transgender Advocacy. “GLAAD’s study shows that responsible, accurate, and inclusive coverage is possible, even with the demands of a busy news cycle.  All media must commit to basic standards that hold the administration accountable and ensure their stories accurately reflect the community under attack.”

About the Study

GLAAD reviewed first day stories of executive orders regarding transgender people, noting whether the stories:
Include a quote from a transgender person or trans-led advocacy group
Include a queer rights advocate group (LGBQ but not T)
Include transgender person/ community member personally impacted
Additionally, GLAAD evaluated for context:
about the trans community or,
about authoritarianism/project 2025 or,
about White House staff leading anti-trans EOs or,
from a non-LGBTQ third party expert in the subject area.

Mixed Results

Transgender voices were included in the following outlets and stories about the executive orders:
ABC News: 3 of 5 stories.
Associated Press: 2 of 5 stories; one story included multiple trans voices.
CBS News: 2 of 5 stories.
NBC News: 3 of 5 stories.
Reuters: 1 of 5 stories.
USA Today: 2 of 5 stories.

17 of the 22 stories that did not include a transgender person also did not include a quote from an LGBTQ person or group.

Coverage Analysis

A day one story from Reuters about the order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism” did not include a transgender person’s response, but did include a one from an LGBTQ advocacy leader. It did not challenge the administration to define or clarify “gender ideology,” a term created by opponents of transgender people as a way to dehumanize them and justify discrimination.

The story also repeats rhetoric from the executive order without clarification or challenge, including inaccurate or undefined claims such as “immutable biological classification.”

A USA Today story about Trump’s executive order that “recognizes two sexes” does not include an LGBTQ voice or an expert in science or medicine to challenge inaccurate claims. The article quotes an unnamed “incoming White House official” and “Trump staffer” who previewed and amplified the order’s inaccurate, baseless rhetoric. The story did not challenge the accuracy, legality, need for, or practicality of implementing an order intent on targeting transgender people and that ignores scientific consensus of human biology as diverse and complex, and that gender diversity is recognized throughout history and cultures. The order, and the story, also neglect the reality of intersex people, who are born with diverse sex characteristics that can be both female and male, and whose experiences helped lead the change to passports allowing for gender neutral markers.

By contrast, a USA Today story in early February about an executive order targeting transgender women in sports includes a transgender person’s response as well as important context and legal expertise on the challenges to the order. It includes questions about directives to the Education Department to implement and enforce the order while Trump has promised to eliminate the department.

An ABC News story about the administration’s plans to target transgender people serving in the military does not include a transgender person, service member, or legal advocate, even though a similar proposal was thoroughly covered in the first Trump administration. The story also repeats, without challenge, baseless rhetoric in the order targeting the integrity of the entire transgender community.

An Associated Press story about Trump’s effort to criminalize best practice health care for minors under 19 included multiple trans voices and noted that the order’s graphic language conflicted with medical expertise and research supporting the care. AP’s coverage is important and influential as it is carried by thousands of outlets across the country, and often referred to in other outlets’ coverage, such as this piece by CBS News.

Outlets that employ and assign out LGBTQ reporters or have units dedicated to coverage of diverse topics consistently produce stories that are more inclusive and accurate. These stories draw on reporter and team experience in covering LGBTQ people and topics, close connections and trust with sources, and familiarity with research and facts helpful to all readers and viewers.

NBC News’ comprehensive coverage of the health care order included responses from transgender people and multiple citations of research showing the effectiveness of the care and its support by every major medical association. Earlier coverage of the first executive orders failed to include transgender voices, while quoting liberally from a “White House official” whose language – “restoring sanity” – was defamatory and unchallenged. An NBC News story about Trump’s education order includes a mention about “indoctrination” in schools that did not challenge officials to define or provide evidence of it happening. The story was mostly focused on the effort to defund public schools via choice vouchers, and did not include response from a transgender person or LGBTQ group.

Best Practices Reporting

Outlets covering the Trump White House and its unprecedented targeting of transgender people can improve the accuracy of their stories and representation of the community by establishing protocols for coverage:

• Seek and include transgender voices in stories about transgender people.
• Center facts over rhetoric.
• Include context and consequences.
• Quote administration sources by name and title, particularly if they are speaking negatively about marginalized people and proposing to restrict rights of any marginalized group.
• Research and include any history of anti-LGBTQ activism and animus by the Trump White House officials and affiliated groups.

Additional background:

GLAAD: LGBTQ legal groups have filed at least nine lawsuits against the anti-trans executive orders, four of which have been blocked in federal courts.

GALLUP: 9.3% of Americans identify as LGBTQ

GLAAD has documented 240+ attacks in policy and rhetoric from the Trump administration via the Trump Accountability Tracker

GLAAD Accountability Project: 200+ profiles of public figures who use their platforms to spread disinformation and harmful policies targeting LGBTQ people

GLAAD: Terms to avoid: “Gender ideology,” “transgenderism,” “biological boy/girl.” These are inaccurate terms not used by transgender people or the medical community. They are terms used to dehumanize trans people and undermine authentic identity. “Biological boy” is inaccurate and not a term used by the medical or scientific community because it does not reflect the proven diversity of human biology or the reality of intersex people.

GLAAD has documented the Trump administration’s harmful attempts to erase LGBTQ people on government websites, including health-related informational sites, and the censoring of the word “transgender” from the National Park Service’s site about the Stonewall National Monument that attempts to remove the contributions of transgender people from the Stonewall Riots and the LGBTQ movement.