Over the weekend, media outlet The Australian announced a new page dedicated to news on transgender issues. Sounds great, right? Wrong.

In theory, improving the coverage of LGBTQI+ issues sounds like a really good idea, but that’s far from what this absolute shitstorm ended up becoming. Here’s the tweet that kicked it all off.

Unsurprisingly, there was a tonne of backlash almost instantly.

However, Benjamin Law took a more proactive approach. He tweeted offering to donate $36 (the cost of a one-month subscription) to The Gender Centre for every person who unsubscribes from The Australian.

If you’re unfamiliar with him, Benjamin Law is an openly gay Australian writer, who wrote Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East, among other things. He’s a good egg.

He has also appeared on Q&A, The Project and The Drum, so he’s pretty familiar with the world of journalism.

This isn’t the first time Ben has called bullshit on The Australian either. His last Quarterly Essay, Moral Panic 101 is a deep dive into their shitstorm campaign against the safe schools program.

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But why is Ben and everyone else so offended, you ask?

Well, for starters, a vast majority of the articles on the site aren’t particularly friendly towards the trans community. There’s a lot of fear-mongering and uneducated opinions.

Transgender youth are approximately six times more likely to attempt suicide than cis gendered youth. That is terrifying.

Maybe we shouldn’t be spreading misinformation and continuing to fuel hate towards an already vulnerable community.

Unsurprisingly, The Australian have said that they’re presenting balanced information, but all it takes is a read of their most recent “gender issues” headline to see straight through that.

“They’re castrating children,” is the most recent headline in this balanced and informative section.

“Medicalisation of gender is dividing our society and abusing our defenceless young,” the preview reads.

Now I’m not going to tell you that you’re not entitled to your own opinion. You are. You don’t have to be a dick about your opinion, but you are entitled to one.

The transgender topic is unfamiliar territory for a lot of Australians, and sometimes the unknown is a little uncomfortable.

However, if you’re scared, confused or offended by the transgender community, I really encourage you to do some independent research because headlines like this spread a tonne of fear and aren’t actually all that scientifically accurate. The “castration” argument is basically completely disproved by this fact sheet.

Obviously, Benjamin Law wasn’t the only person that was outraged by the new webpage. I honestly think you’d struggle to find a positive reply to this tweet. Some are funny, some are informative, but the replies are definitely worth a read.

Luckily, you have to pay actual money to read the content that The Australian publishes, so hopefully most of the population aren’t being brainwashed by these scare tactics.

If you do your research, I think you’ll find that 99% of trans people are just trying to live their damn lives in peace.

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