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Right-wingers want to boycott Fox News for following trans non-discrimination laws

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A 2019 pic of Fox News' New York office building Photo: Shutterstock

Transphobic right-wing broadcaster Matt Walsh is calling for a boycott of Fox News after discovering that the right-leaning media outlet accommodates transgender, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming employees as required by New York state and city laws.

The Daily Signal — a media outlet of the anti-LGBTQ+ conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation — accused Fox News of caving to “woke ideology” because the company recognizes employees by their gender identities and allows them to use the corresponding pronouns, clothing, and bathrooms.

The company’s January 2021 employee handbook includes a “Workplace Transition Plan” to ease employees’ gender transition at work. It also contains definitions for LGBTQ+ terms like “cisgender, gender expression, gender-fluid, gender identity, gender non-conforming, gender transition, LGBTQ, non-binary, and transgender.”

The handbook’s section on “Gender Transition” says, “Employees who are transitioning their gender have the right to be open about their transition if they so choose, and to work in an environment free of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation, and without fear of consequences or transphobia for living openly.”

The website noted that the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, a measure of companies’ LGBTQ+-inclusive policies, gave Fox Corporation a perfect score (that score was rescinded last year due to Fox News’s coverage of LGBTQ+ issues). It also noted Fox News’ previous reporting has respected trans people’s pronouns and used “activist language” like “gender-affirming care.”

The article quotes Walsh — an anti-trans activist who believes trans people want to “drug and mutilate kids” — as saying, “Fox’s viewers think that Fox shares their values, and it’s very clear that that’s just not the case. Gender ideology is as far radical Left as you can possibly go. They have embraced radical leftism in its most extreme form.”

“There’s no daylight at all between Fox News and MSNBC when it comes to gender,” he added. “And I think that’s something that Fox’s viewers need to know.… If it were up to me, Fox would get the Bud Light treatment.”

The “Bud Light treatment” likely refers to the right-wing backlash and boycott over the popular beer’s partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Walsh has been repeatedly pushing the boycott while misgendering Mulvaney on his show — something that led to YouTube demonetizing his content, costing him $100,000 per month in ad revenue.

It’s particularly ironic to see Fox News being attacked for its trans-inclusive workplace policies considering that its numerous segments attacking trans people. Its hosts have claimed that Democrats want to “trans our kids” and called diversity lessons in schools a form of “predatory grooming.”

In a statement to LGBTQ Nation, a Fox News spokesperson said, “FOX News Media is compliant with all Human Rights laws mandated by the cities and states in which we operate, including New York and California.”

Fox News has made a series of moves that have irritated its once-faithful right-wing audience. On election night 2020, the network correctly called Arizona in favor of now-President Joe Biden (D), angering then-President Donald Trump (R) and others. More recently, Fox News fired its ultra-bigoted star Tucker Carlson, leading Carlson’s fans to conclude that the media outlet is betraying its viewers to become more centrist.

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