In a news story about Arkansas and Tennessee becoming the latest states to sign what critics claim are “anti-trans” laws, CNN made heads spin with one particularly egregious line stating there’s no consensus for determining gender at birth.
“Much of the legislation that is pending or has been adopted restricts athletes' participation in public school sports to the gender that matches the sex that athletes were assigned at birth,” the article states. “But it's not possible to know a person's gender identity at birth, and there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth.”
That statement—written as if it were fact—led to widespread backlash on social media.
Remember when the propaganda outlet CNN ran an ad campaign about "facts" called "this is an apple, this is a banana"? Maybe they should work on "this is a penis, this is a vagina." https://t.co/RiaQYM8es8
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) March 31, 2021
If you act like a propaganda outlet, people are going to treat you like a propaganda outlet.
— Denny Burk (@DennyBurk) March 31, 2021
This is blatant, @CNN. https://t.co/GBIXXDg9Rx
From @CNN. ?????
— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) March 31, 2021
Genitalia. Observing genitalia is the consensus criteria for determining one's sex at birth. It is inaccurate only about 0.018% of the time. That's approximately the same likelihood that a coin will land on its edge when flipped.https://t.co/sKf4uhcIrk pic.twitter.com/d3hMKTAiyL
We live in a literal clown world where the elites pretend not to know what it means to be a man or a woman. The only way to maintain your sanity is to reject this absolute nonsense everywhere you see it. https://t.co/pCWzVpC3zn
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) March 31, 2021
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently signed bills into law in their respective states that protect women and girls’ sports, ensuring fair competition, according to Lee.
I signed the bill to preserve women's athletics and ensure fair competition. This legislation responds to damaging federal policies that stand in opposition to the years of progress made under Title IX and I commend members of the General Assembly for their bipartisan work.
— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) March 26, 2021