President Donald Trump and his allies at the Federal Communications Commission want to take their war on LGBTQ people to a screen near you.
The agency is weighing whether to add a warning label to television shows when transgender or nonbinary people are referenced in children’s programs. The FCC announced the proposed labeling in April, with the first round of public comments ending on May 22. The labels would be instituted by the TV Oversight Management Board, which sets ratings for programs.
All of this is part of Republicans’ effort to demonize and ostracize transgender people by portraying them as a threat to children — a crusade the GOP is shamelessly waging as the Trump administration withholds portions of the Epstein files and defends the president’s pardoning of Jan. 6 insurrectionists, including people who were later charged with child sex crimes.
The filing form to submit a public comment on the proposed warning label is here.
Since the FCC’s announcement, civil rights groups have been urging their supporters to voice their opposition. GLAAD, which was originally launched as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said in its call to action that applying warning labels “to programs with transgender and nonbinary characters and stories incorrectly equates them to programming with coarse and crude language, sexual situations, or violence.”
“This makes life harder for LGBTQ Americans,” the statement added. “It sends a message that the FCC can pressure the TVOMB to add even more ratings that stigmatize other diverse groups.”
Journalists, such as Marisa Kabas in this MS NOW op-ed, have noted that efforts to demonize trans people have been an extremist tactic deployed by far-right groups for decades, including in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The Museum of Jewish Heritage has documented the Nazis’ targeting of transgender people as well.
These historical examples serve as reminders of the ways that extremists have sought to shore up their power by falsely portraying trans people as threats to society. And they’re a warning to Americans not to fall for similar tricks.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.