ABOVE: CBS News “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl. (Screenshot via CBS News)
CBS’ “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl reported on the health care challenges facing the transgender community May 23, although a portion of her reporting also covered individuals who have detransitioned, a subject that has been politicized by anti-LGBTQ groups such as the Heritage Foundation, the Alliance Defending Freedom and others opposed to trans rights.
In a piece including the accompanying video report published by CBS News Sunday on 60 Minutes Overtime, Stahl related that she cannot remember another story she has worked on at “60 Minutes” where comments and criticisms began surfacing from advocates before the piece aired.
“We were concerned that the groups that oppose transgender people might try to weaponize our story and use it against transgender people,” she said. “Some of the activists who reached out to us told us they were worried about it too. Our story was really about health care. And we wanted to keep it focused on health care and not make it a political story.”
Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), told Stahl he was concerned that reporting on those who choose to detransition could be “taken out of context [and] could further victimize and marginalize” the transgender community.
“Bringing a story to light about detransitioning without talking about the vast majority of people who positively transition, would cause concern because it sends a message,” David said. “We need to also elevate the positive stories of people who successfully transition.”
Dr. Lee Savio Beers, a pediatrician, professor, and the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics told Stahl it’s vital to “help dispel the myths about what gender-affirming care is and isn’t.”
“I also think it’s really important, no matter how we do it, and in whatever setting, to make sure that we send a message to transgender youth and gender-diverse youth and their families that they matter, that their experiences matter, that we care about them and we want them to get the best medical care, we want them to get the best education, we want them to get the best support from their families and their communities,” Beers said during the interview.” And I think that has to be our north star.”
View the “60 Minutes” broadcast segment via CBS News website here and the network’s Overtime with further discussion and context here.
