Cowboy State Daily’s coverage of anti-trans legislation is consistently shameful
The term "biological male" does not appear in the bill, is not a term used by mental health or medical professionals and does not conform to AP style. But Cowboy State Daily writers love to use it.
This week, Cowboy State Daily readers were treated to the headline, “Wyoming LGBTQ Group Plans To Fight Transgender Sports Ban In Court.” The story refers to a new law banning trans women and girls from competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
That’s what the law actually does.
But if you read State Politics Reporter Leo Wolfson’s March 29 story, you might walk away thinking that the new law bans “biological males from participating in girls’ sports” — because those are the inaccurate words Wolfson typed.
The law, however, does not ban "biological males." It bans trans women and girls.
But Wolfson feels comfortable printing “biological male” — not just in quotes but in his own prose, in his lede and throughout the story. In fact, he’s used the term in several stories now. And Wolfson’s not alone. His colleague Clair McFarland frequently covers similar issues and has felt similarly comfortable describing Senate File 133 — in the authoritative just-the-facts language between quotes — as a bill that bans “biological males” from participating in “girls school sports.”
The term "biological male" does not appear in the bill, is not a term used by mental health or medical professionals and does not conform to AP style. AP style dictates how journalists spell, reference and even hyphenate everything from e-commerce to Walmart. It’s not universal, but it is widely adopted and frequently referenced by reporters in need of stylistic guidance and consistency.
It has this to say about referring to trans people:
Mental health professionals draw a similar conclusion about the inappropriateness and inaccuracy of the term. They do not use language like "biological male" to mean "assigned male at birth." Like good journalists, they aim to use inclusive, accurate language in their professional practice.
So who does use the term? Aside from Cowboy State Daily writers?
It’s worth noting that “biological male” is not a neutral term used by various parties on all sides of the debate. It is instead a specific, intentional term used by right-wing activists to discredit transgender people and further the assault on their human rights. It’s a term that makes bills like this one more palatable. It’s easier to ban “biological males” — those males with their biology who want to be around your daughters — than it is to ban “trans girls” — your daughter’s nonconforming classmate who just wants to fit in but is bullied for being different.
Presenting “biological male” as the opposite of “girl” is, frankly, dehumanizing. Why is it girls and males? Not girls and boys? Or females and males? It seems the children you want to include on team sports are defined by their love of dresses or the other trappings of traditional femininity; the children you want to exclude are defined by their “biology.”
The term “biological male” is loaded; it’s rejected by health professionals, journalists and the queer community. It is used exclusively by those who wish to limit the rights of trans women and girls.
And yet it’s the term Wolfson chose. (It’s the term Wolfson and McFarland keep choosing. A search for “biological male” on Cowboy State Daily’s website turns up 36 results. The same search on WyoFile turns up just four, all opinion pieces; the only one to use “biological male” outside of a quote is from 2016.)
Cowboy State Daily writers might think they're being neutral. They're not. They are adopting the language of anti-LGBTQ activists instead of the language used by queer people to talk about themselves, or the language widely adopted by professionals in both health and journalism. They’re either not trying hard enough to get it right or they are actively cutting against the standards of their own profession to play favorites with those passing anti-trans laws.
On one level, this editorial is just a journalist yelling at two other journalists about word choice. But we owe it to our community to do better than this. The way we talk, and write, about trans people has a real effect in the world.
Research shows trans youth are at a higher risk for depression and suicide and that risk is even worse in places where they are not accepted or where there are laws in place targeting them. Something as simple as using a person’s preferred pronouns, or their chosen name, can make a significant, positive difference in that person’s quality of life. So it stands to reason that calling someone “biological” in a story where other children get to just be “girls” will have the opposite effect.
The way we cover important, divisive issues matters. So it's disappointing to see Cowboy State Daily, one of the largest news outlets in the state, consistently screw up their coverage of this.
I don’t think Wolfson or McFarland are evil people. I hope they and you will read this as what it is: a plea to be more thoughtful when writing about our trans neighbors and an invitation for our entire journalistic community to consider the weight of our words.
Many of us became reporters to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. The trans community is one of the most afflicted groups in Wyoming. And using unscientific, misleading, political phrases like "biological males" does little to comfort them.
Welcome to the Laramie Reporter’s opinion page. This is a new corner of the site where I hope to write about issues in journalism, explain editorial decisions and occasionally host guest columns.
CSD knows exactly what it's doing and it's audience. I don't think there is any intent to be "neutral" in its reporting.