Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial page editor defends ‘Caitlyn is still a mister’ column
Last week, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Jennifer Graham turned in a piece about Caitlyn Jenner that said “Mr. Jenner joins Chaz Bono and Laverne Cox in the don’t-call-them-freaks parade … But have at it; whatever makes you feel pretty. Just know that, for every person cheering your courage, there are others wishing you were a bit more of a coward.”
Four Post-Gazette opinion section staffers read the column before it went to press, according to editorial page editor Tom Waseleski.
Jennifer Graham
“No one raised questions about the column to me and I’m not aware of any discussion in which one or more of my colleagues argued against using it,” he says. “Our intern told me as he was leaving for the day that the column was sure to generate a reaction. I agreed that it would, but that’s nothing new at the Post-Gazette. We have a robust opinion section, and we’re used to strong reactions — from all points of the political compass — to various columns, editorials and editorial cartoons.”
“Strong reactions” came in quickly after the column was published last Thursday. “Defamatory,” one person tweeted; “shockingly anti-transgender,” tweeted another. The Human Rights Campaign told P-G executive editor David Shribman that “Ms. Graham has no business serving as a columnist at a publication with a reputation as sterling like yours.”/CONTINUES
Former Post-Gazette columnist Dennis Roddy tells Romenesko readers:
The problem was her language: still a “mister,” “freak show,” even the old trope about bathroom privileges. The rule has always been that it’s OK to draw a little blood from an equally matched opponent; not from the vulnerable. The transgender and gay communities might seem to enjoy dignified treatment on TV and in the movies, but in real life they end up being harassed, bullied, degraded and murdered. This column drew its blood from that population. That was the problem.
In the newsroom, there was “a shitstorm,” according to one reporter. “The rank and file in the PG newsroom were incensed. There were murmurings of a byline strike by the Newspaper Guild until Graham was fired.”
Pittsburgh Newspaper Guild president and P-G enterprise reporter Michael Fuoco clarifies that: “SOME staffers suggested a byline strike or other Guild action. Many in the staff were outraged, as you can imagine,” but “I informed people individually that the Guild would not take any action because we shouldn’t be in a position to feel we should vote up or down on every cartoon, editorial or comment.”
Fuoco, reporter Mackenzie Carpenter, and photojournalist Michael Henninger recently picked up several awards for their two-parter about the transgender community, and “all three of us were appalled by the column.”
The Guild chief, who has been at the P-G for 31 years, adds in an email: “I met privately with editorial page editor Tom Waseleski to express my disappointment and outrage AS A STAFF MEMBER AND NOT AS GUILD PRESIDENT.”
Waseleski tells me “it’s hard to say how many emails, letters and calls the office received” about the column. “Some went to the executive editor, some to me, some to the columnist; some of them were sent to all of us. I personally responded to 17 emails and received three voicemails. Some of the emails and phone calls to our columnist were profane and laced with expletives. …We received 22 negative letters for publication, seven of which we ran.”
Graham says of the criticism: “I’ve been writing columns for most of the past decade, and as such, know that strong opinions elicit strong reactions. All in a day’s work.”
I asked the columnist if she’d change anything if she could do the Jenner column over again.
“Of course. Given the chance, I’d tinker with everything I’ve ever written – and stuff other people have written, too.”
Waseleski (right) has been telling letter-writers that “as an editor, I found Jennifer’s piece well-written and worth publishing.”
Does he still feel that way?
That is still my position. It is a strongly worded commentary that reflects a view that the columnist shares with others. Those who have contacted us, calling it hate speech, also speak for others and we’ve given them their say by printing responses that criticize the column and the Post-Gazette’s decision to use it.
* Caitlyn Jenner is still a mister (post-gazette.com)
* Post-Gazette gets pounded on social media for its Jenner column (pghcitypaper.com)
* Letters to the Post-Gazette about Graham’s Jenner column (post-gazette.com)
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