Right Wing Media Attacked Fox News For Trans Policies. They All Have the Exact Same Policies.

Bigotry against trans-Americans is red hot in right-wing media circles. The Bud Light-Dylan Mulvaney outrage-cycle was apparently enough of an audience hit that it has generated follow-up meltdowns, with the latest attacking retail giant Target for an incredibly benign pride month promotion.

Fox News has been an enthusiastic promoter of this anti-trans hysteria. Unfortunately for cable news network, ill-informed mob rule isn’t easy to control. And now the mob has come for them: right-wing website Daily Signal breathlessly reported this week that Fox News has inclusive internal trans policies:

Fox News employees are allowed to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, rather than their biological sex, and permitted to dress in alignment with their preferred gender. They must also be addressed by their preferred name and pronouns in the workplace.

These are just a few of the policies outlined in the company handbook, dated January 2021, a copy of which was shared with The Daily Signal. Fox also offers to help employees come up with a “Workplace Transition Plan” to ease their gender transition at work.

Crazy, right? Fox News has a policy that allows trans employees to feel comfortable. The policies are exactly the kind that would spark outrage on the air at the network. But they’re embraced by many large corporations.

Don’t give Fox too much credit: As the Daily Signal noted way down in the report, all companies based in New York and Washington D.C. have to follow those policies. To violate them is illegal.

Fox News isn’t adopting progressive trans policies for its employees; the network is simply complying with state laws.

Still, The story was too juicy for other lemming-like conservative outlets to follow over the bigot cliff. Newsmax did a number segments on the report, and right-wing sites Daily Caller, Breitbart, PJ Media, and Red State all covered the same story. Fox News is no better than the woke activists ruining American culture, amirite!?

Again, attacking citizens who identify as trans has not only become acceptable by many on the right, but is almost being encouraged. One of the loudest voices in this intolerant room was Megyn Kelly, the sudden conspiracy theorist who recently donned a red “Make Women Female Again” hat and pointedly wears a “Female” shirt because, who the hell knows.

She seems to have gone full anti-trans in a pivot for a conservative audience, and after the “woke” Fox News story broke, she could not help but hit her former employer with whom she loves to punch up against, suggesting on Twitter that the network which once employed her be called “Foxweiser.”

To her credit, she did note that Fox was following New York laws but added “There’s nothing in New York City law that says you can’t bash Dylan Mulvaney when he’s making a mockery of womanhood.”

But here’s the thing, though. Megyn Kelly is on SiriusXM radio, a company that employs the very same policy. She is in partnership with Red Seat Ventures, who follow the same guidelines. And if they don’t have the same policies, they do so with legal peril as these are guidelines mandated by city and state regulations.

This state regulation ensures that every citizen feels welcome and safe regardless of identity. And that’s a good thing because it prevents bigoted discrimination, which, curiously, seems to be the thing that Megyn Kelly and other conservative hate-mongers are promoting in the name of divisive clicks. It’s disgusting, frankly, and it’s long past time to call it out.

Newsmax is trying desperately to hit Fox News over this, but guess where their studios are based? New York City. So their hit pieces on Fox News policies fail to acknowledge that they are legally bound to do the very same.

And it’s not just New York-based companies. The Daily Signal, which broke the story, is owned by The Heritage Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., where Rule 4-802 of the Municipal Regulations “prohibits discriminatory practices in regard to restroom access.” To wit:

Rule 4-802 of the D.C. Municipal Regulations prohibits discriminatory practices in regard to restroom access. Individuals have the right to use facilities consistent with their gender identity. In addition, single-stall restrooms must have gender-neutral signage. D.C. Municipal Regulations 4-802, “Restrooms and Other Gender Specific Facilities.”

Oh, the irony. The Daily Caller? Based in Virginia, which has a similar policy. Breitbart? Woke-ass California. Of course, it’s possible that all these outlets eschew the state-mandated guidelines, which would be illegal.

There are several legit reasons to criticize Fox News on a full partisan spectrum. Same with any outlet, including CNN and MSNBC. But this attack on “woke” Fox News just parades the moronic lowest everyday denominator appeal driven by conservative outlets, who seem more interested in getting headlines about relevance than telling the whole story.

And they should be ashamed because they know better, but don’t care about dividing the nation because a divided America is one that they can profit from.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.