GLAAD comms director attacks gay health reporter who noted collapse of transgender narrative

LGBT activists and profit-incentivized medical professionals have long claimed that so-called "gender-affirming care" is lifesaving. By this, they mean that confused or mentally ill individuals who forgo or are denied genital mutilation, cross-sex hormones, or ruinous puberty-blocking drugs may alternatively kill themselves.

In various instances, advocates for these medical interventions have told the parents of confused children that they have a choice between a "dead son or a live daughter" or between a "living son or a dead daughter."

A new peer-reviewed study published earlier this month in BMJ Mental Health — the esteemed quarterly journal co-owned by the BMJ Group, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and the British Psychological Society — put this myth to bed, concluding that "medical gender reassignment does not have an impact on suicide risk."

Days after Blaze News detailed the findings in the study, Benjamin Ryan, a gay health and science reporter with bylines in numerous publications, did likewise in the pages of the of the New York Post. However, Ryan drew the ire of radical LGBT activists, GLAAD's New York-based senior communications director Anthony Morrison in particular.

Although Ryan has long written sensitively on issues of concern to GLAAD and helped people with Morrison's condition, that apparently did little to secure a modicum of civility from his top critic Monday.

Ryan noted in a thread, "A major new Finnish study found: Cross-sex hormones and gender-transition surgeries for adolescents and young adults had no significant independent link to suicide deaths, nor did gender distress severe enough to send young people to a gender clinic."

"What was independently tied to a greater chance of suicide in adolescents and young adults with gender-related distress? A high number of appointments with mental-health specialists — meaning, severe mental health challenges," added the Post contributor.

These and other narrative-killing insights from the Finnish study evidently enraged GLAAD communications director Anthony Morrison, who wrote, "It's awful to hate yourself so much to write about junk science just to make yourself feel good. And as if writing for the Post is 'journalism.' Bye Felicia."

Morrison, a spokesman for a group that initially developed a reputation for supposedly shielding gay people from defamation, elicited scorn from various critics over his remarks.

Journalist Jesse Singal responded, "Tony, do you really think Benjamin Ryan's reporting on youth gender medicine can be attributed to internalized homophobia on his part? Isn't that a pretty big claim to publicly launch from your perch as a senior comms person at an international activist organization?"

Singal added, "This organization's attacks on journalists, many of them quite personal, are absolutely relentless. They are not going to age well. If a right-leaning group acted in this manner it would be a 10-day MSNBC story."

Dennis Noel Kavanagh, director of the Gay Men's Network, noted, "This is somewhat telling. Benjamin is reporting on a respected study that gives lie to the suggestion radical medical interventions are required to stave off suicidal ideation."

"Rather than be happy about that, a GLAAD spokesman is most displeased and resorts to unwarranted personal abuse," continued Kavanagh. "This suggests a rather tactical approach to the extremely serious questions being raised by adults and it's disappointing to observe the especial level of toxicity in the venom reserved for gay men stepping out of line."

Leor Sapir, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, noted that GLAAD "responded to Ben Ryan's coverage of the latest Finnish study that undermines the 'transition or suicide' narrative ... by attacking Ben himself. Flak is always heaviest over the target."

Another user took issue with Morrison's mischaracterization of the study, writing, "'Junk Science' is the Finish National Institutes of Health study confirming the literature review done by Sweden and England showing no causal link between trans ideation and suicide? Or is it the organizations promoting the sterilization and mutilation of gay kids to 'fix' them?"

"The study he is calling 'junk science' is incomparably more robust than the rest of the literature on this subject combined," wrote Tablet columnist Wesley Yang. "448 young people tracked over 25 years. His resort to ad hominem is a frank confession of intellectual and moral bankruptcy."

Faced with significant backlash, Morrison turned off his replies. When Ryan indicated as much, the GLAAD communications director responded, "Lolololol 'journalism.'"

GLAAD has made abundantly clear what it expects from journalists: to accept and promote its preferred narrative.

In concert with Equality Michigan, the LGBT activist group released guidance on Feb. 27 telling journalists what to "know and report," indicating precisely what and what not to write as well as how to write it.

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