USA Today is facing backlash for editing a column from the “fastest” girl in Connecticut who wrote about how unfair it was to be competing in track against biologically male athletes.
Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Chelsea Mitchell in Soule v. Connecticut Association of School, said the column first ran on May 22 but on May 25 USA Today issued an editor’s note at the top and changed the word “male” throughout the piece.
“This column has been updated to reflect USA TODAY’s standards and style guidelines. We regret that hurtful language was used,” the editors wrote, referencing Mitchell describing her transgender competitors as male.
For example, in the original column Mitchell wrote: “Instead, all I can think about is how all my training, everything I’ve done to maximize my performance, might not be enough, simply because there’s a runner on the line with an enormous physical advantage: a male body."
It now reads: “Instead, all I can think about is how all my training, everything I’ve done to maximize my performance, might not be enough, simply because there’s a transgender runner on the line with an enormous physical advantage.”
These changes have been made wherever Mitchell used the word “male,” prompting backlash on social media.
What was the "hurtful language" that editors deleted from Chelsea's opinion piece three days after publication? The word "male." 2/3
— Christiana Holcomb (@ChristianaADF) May 26, 2021
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USA Today violated its principles to appease the mob. This blatant censorship violates the trust we place in media to be honest brokers of public debate.
— Christiana Holcomb (@ChristianaADF) May 26, 2021
Chelsea’s experience & viewpoint matters. That’s why we’re posting her original piece here https://t.co/bs6lRIxJq0. 3/3
Outrageous. @usatoday changed Mitchell's words, post-publication, on the grounds that the word "male" is hurtful.
— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) May 27, 2021
The activists know well that Mitchell can't make her argument without that word.
Shame on the useful idiots of USAToday.
If only they had half Mitchell's courage. https://t.co/Llk9Si2w3z
This is the second incident I've heard of where leftist propaganda outlets such as USA Today have altered words post-publication from conservative groups whose politics they oppose. Garbage. https://t.co/y9ARdCl89z
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 27, 2021
Absolutely incredible. You literally can't make an argument in corporate media with conceding to the terms set by the left. https://t.co/n1SvDZ87Or
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 27, 2021
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