Billie Jean Sweeney
@billiejsweeney.bsky.social
Journalist, advocate, trans woman. Proud ex-Committee to Protect Journalists, Associated Press, Hartford Courant. Oh proud state school grad too (Go UConn!) Hmm did I work somewhere else 🤔. She/her. wesweeney.com
Pinned
An authoritarian movement, led by the president and reaching into Republican-led state governments and the judiciary is chipping away at American democracy.
Trans people are among the first, most often targeted - but it won't end there. Read the full analysis by @billiejsweeney.bsky.social
Trans people are among the first, most often targeted - but it won't end there. Read the full analysis by @billiejsweeney.bsky.social
Authoritarian Surge Animates Attacks on Trans Americans — Assigned
The right-wing campaign to create an autocratic state is also endangering long-held freedoms for all Americans, pushing U.S. democracy to the precipice. Trans people, its earliest targets, are among t...
www.assignedmedia.org
The Texas AG is compiling lists and pix of trans ppl. The Trump admin defies the law to attack trans kids. Trump’s AG designates trans ppl enemies of the state. The Supreme Court dispenses w lower courts to impose his bigoted passport decree
Are we headed toward a police state - or have we arrived?
Are we headed toward a police state - or have we arrived?
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
they're doing it for gender, imo
It’s genuinely wild that the United States spent decades building an elaborate rules-based international order which de facto cemented its permanent status as the dominant global hegemon, sustained by ideology rather than might, and now is just blowing it all up for literally no reason
January 6, 2026 at 1:57 AM
they're doing it for gender, imo
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
The @nytimespr.bsky.social has questioned my word before, when @assignedmedia.org reported on its trans-exclusionary hiring & assigning practices. Five years after I raised this issue w top editors, a year after the Assigned story published, nothing changed.
You are what your record says you are
You are what your record says you are
This assertion is false: “No UK correspondent was assigned or drafted a story about the Cass report.”
I read the story as it was being written. It was placed on the budget and then pulled off. I know this bc it was my job to know what was being covered, how and by whom. Your publisher knows this.
I read the story as it was being written. It was placed on the budget and then pulled off. I know this bc it was my job to know what was being covered, how and by whom. Your publisher knows this.
January 6, 2026 at 10:49 AM
The @nytimespr.bsky.social has questioned my word before, when @assignedmedia.org reported on its trans-exclusionary hiring & assigning practices. Five years after I raised this issue w top editors, a year after the Assigned story published, nothing changed.
You are what your record says you are
You are what your record says you are
This is a regular nyt tactic, it’s Jim Crow inspired.
The nyt routinely labels every trans person who dares to speak up for themselves an “activist” while simultaneously dismissing our every concern as unreasonable.
The nyt routinely labels every trans person who dares to speak up for themselves an “activist” while simultaneously dismissing our every concern as unreasonable.
In their response, NYT calls us “trans activists.” Am I? I began health care, changed my name and sex on my ID. Continue to work and care for my home and family. Object to hearing lies about me and my community and caregivers. I live!
“Trans activist” sounds like yet more dehumanizing language.
“Trans activist” sounds like yet more dehumanizing language.
This is an interesting story to follow. There's a powerful news organization fighting against a minority group that raises legitimate concerns with coverage. They're treating the minority group like they'd treat a lobby group. That's wrong.
January 6, 2026 at 1:05 PM
This is a regular nyt tactic, it’s Jim Crow inspired.
The nyt routinely labels every trans person who dares to speak up for themselves an “activist” while simultaneously dismissing our every concern as unreasonable.
The nyt routinely labels every trans person who dares to speak up for themselves an “activist” while simultaneously dismissing our every concern as unreasonable.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
I just want everyone to step back and realize how often it's a trans woman getting bullied off social media.
January 5, 2026 at 9:06 PM
I just want everyone to step back and realize how often it's a trans woman getting bullied off social media.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
I can't speak about the details publicly but the lengths that the Times will go to in order to silence criticism of their coverage is extensive. They will try and crush whoever gets in their way.
They went after GLAAD because they dared organize protests.
They went after GLAAD because they dared organize protests.
January 6, 2026 at 12:01 AM
I can't speak about the details publicly but the lengths that the Times will go to in order to silence criticism of their coverage is extensive. They will try and crush whoever gets in their way.
They went after GLAAD because they dared organize protests.
They went after GLAAD because they dared organize protests.
Agreed.
They won't even use the term transgender regarding their coverage in this statement, they use the term gender identity.
I think the Times might be making a shift towards an editorial stance that pathologizes trans people.
I think the Times might be making a shift towards an editorial stance that pathologizes trans people.
January 6, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Agreed.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
People harassed Lia Smith's parents after she completed suicide. The level of hate and dehumanization of trans people is obscene.
![A screenshot of white text on a black background with a sentence highlighted in blue. The text reads: "Not long ago, Mr. Smith walked through their house outside of San Francisco with tears in his eyes, stopping by family photos — Lia hugging him, Lia at their vacation home in Mexico, Lia posing next to Middlebury’s panther mascot. [Highlighted section] When she died, he had to endure merciless online comments, including one on his Facebook page saying that her death was no loss. [End highlighted section] But he thought she was perfect, he said, adding that she just couldn’t handle all the hate in the world."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:sefgphqp2xqwh2hawaixykwz/bafkreih3jm5b4rr5vfpuls3fup25oioohvi7k2rybnhrqjgqoaucvqot2q@jpeg)
January 6, 2026 at 3:24 AM
People harassed Lia Smith's parents after she completed suicide. The level of hate and dehumanization of trans people is obscene.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
Anyway if any NYT people want to have a 'debate' or whatever, I've said it before and I'll repeat: Name the time and place, I'm there. These folks fear having to engage with trans adults in good faith. Probably because deep down they *do* know they're wrong; they're the bullies here.
January 6, 2026 at 11:09 AM
Anyway if any NYT people want to have a 'debate' or whatever, I've said it before and I'll repeat: Name the time and place, I'm there. These folks fear having to engage with trans adults in good faith. Probably because deep down they *do* know they're wrong; they're the bullies here.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
In their response, NYT calls us “trans activists.” Am I? I began health care, changed my name and sex on my ID. Continue to work and care for my home and family. Object to hearing lies about me and my community and caregivers. I live!
“Trans activist” sounds like yet more dehumanizing language.
“Trans activist” sounds like yet more dehumanizing language.
This is an interesting story to follow. There's a powerful news organization fighting against a minority group that raises legitimate concerns with coverage. They're treating the minority group like they'd treat a lobby group. That's wrong.
Dear @nytimespr.bsky.social. Your press release re comments I gave to @transnews.network includes many errors but one assertion is true: “TNN featured an interview with a former editor on the International desk at The Times who was not involved in these coverage decisions.”
That is the problem
That is the problem
January 6, 2026 at 12:34 PM
In their response, NYT calls us “trans activists.” Am I? I began health care, changed my name and sex on my ID. Continue to work and care for my home and family. Object to hearing lies about me and my community and caregivers. I live!
“Trans activist” sounds like yet more dehumanizing language.
“Trans activist” sounds like yet more dehumanizing language.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
New — I wrote about how corporate media is immediately siding with power in the wake of Trump attacking Venezuela and capturing Maduro, and how journalists need to treat the administration as a hostile entity that’s openly lying to them.
Call Trump's power grab in Venezuela what it is
Corporate media must recognize they're being openly lied to—and report accordingly.
www.thehandbasket.co
January 6, 2026 at 12:49 AM
New — I wrote about how corporate media is immediately siding with power in the wake of Trump attacking Venezuela and capturing Maduro, and how journalists need to treat the administration as a hostile entity that’s openly lying to them.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
This is an interesting story to follow. There's a powerful news organization fighting against a minority group that raises legitimate concerns with coverage. They're treating the minority group like they'd treat a lobby group. That's wrong.
Dear @nytimespr.bsky.social. Your press release re comments I gave to @transnews.network includes many errors but one assertion is true: “TNN featured an interview with a former editor on the International desk at The Times who was not involved in these coverage decisions.”
That is the problem
That is the problem
January 6, 2026 at 11:16 AM
This is an interesting story to follow. There's a powerful news organization fighting against a minority group that raises legitimate concerns with coverage. They're treating the minority group like they'd treat a lobby group. That's wrong.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
A reminder that the US killed 80 people in Venezuela, and it would be nice if the US media cared enough to think that the life of a grandmother in Caracas whose building is destroyed by a US bomb matters as much as the life of a person in the US.
January 5, 2026 at 5:54 PM
A reminder that the US killed 80 people in Venezuela, and it would be nice if the US media cared enough to think that the life of a grandmother in Caracas whose building is destroyed by a US bomb matters as much as the life of a person in the US.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
It's coverage 'about us without us' ... as was pointed out during our CMD discussion www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCrL...
January 6, 2026 at 10:55 AM
It's coverage 'about us without us' ... as was pointed out during our CMD discussion www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCrL...
The @nytimespr.bsky.social has questioned my word before, when @assignedmedia.org reported on its trans-exclusionary hiring & assigning practices. Five years after I raised this issue w top editors, a year after the Assigned story published, nothing changed.
You are what your record says you are
You are what your record says you are
This assertion is false: “No UK correspondent was assigned or drafted a story about the Cass report.”
I read the story as it was being written. It was placed on the budget and then pulled off. I know this bc it was my job to know what was being covered, how and by whom. Your publisher knows this.
I read the story as it was being written. It was placed on the budget and then pulled off. I know this bc it was my job to know what was being covered, how and by whom. Your publisher knows this.
January 6, 2026 at 10:49 AM
The @nytimespr.bsky.social has questioned my word before, when @assignedmedia.org reported on its trans-exclusionary hiring & assigning practices. Five years after I raised this issue w top editors, a year after the Assigned story published, nothing changed.
You are what your record says you are
You are what your record says you are
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
1. This weekend, far-right group Lets Go Washington announced that it had collected enough signatures to get a trans sports ban on the ballot in the state.
The bill includes genital inspection provisions.
It is one of the first to go forward in a blue state.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
The bill includes genital inspection provisions.
It is one of the first to go forward in a blue state.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
Trans Sports Ban With Genital Inspections Gains Enough Signatures To Appear On Washington State Ballot
The initiative collected 400,000 signatures, and will be one of the first major attempts to get an anti-trans law onto the ballot in a state that has dubbed itself a "refuge" for transgender people.
www.erininthemorning.com
January 5, 2026 at 4:30 PM
1. This weekend, far-right group Lets Go Washington announced that it had collected enough signatures to get a trans sports ban on the ballot in the state.
The bill includes genital inspection provisions.
It is one of the first to go forward in a blue state.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
The bill includes genital inspection provisions.
It is one of the first to go forward in a blue state.
Subscribe to support our journalism.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
Former NYT editor Billie Jean Sweeney says the paper’s anti-trans slant was driven from the top. TransLash reported on this in 2022 after a year investigating sources inside the paper.
🎧: https://translash.org/podcasts/the-anti-trans-hate-machine/translash-presents-capturing-the-new-york-times/
🎧: https://translash.org/podcasts/the-anti-trans-hate-machine/translash-presents-capturing-the-new-york-times/
January 5, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Former NYT editor Billie Jean Sweeney says the paper’s anti-trans slant was driven from the top. TransLash reported on this in 2022 after a year investigating sources inside the paper.
🎧: https://translash.org/podcasts/the-anti-trans-hate-machine/translash-presents-capturing-the-new-york-times/
🎧: https://translash.org/podcasts/the-anti-trans-hate-machine/translash-presents-capturing-the-new-york-times/
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
Whether or not you are affected, if you don't have an opinion on trans rights or gender affirming care, you should read this - if not to innoculate yourself from the many who have a disinformed opinion, than bc it illustrates how the techniques used by the hard right will come for all of us.
Some background on how the nyt played a major role in spreading disinformation
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...
"A Shameful Chapter": How Anti-Trans Disinformation Drowned Out Science and Gripped the Mainstream — Assigned
A pipeline of pseudoscience funded by powerful right-wing hate groups has undermined medical truths with the help of big media.
www.assignedmedia.org
January 6, 2026 at 9:46 AM
Whether or not you are affected, if you don't have an opinion on trans rights or gender affirming care, you should read this - if not to innoculate yourself from the many who have a disinformed opinion, than bc it illustrates how the techniques used by the hard right will come for all of us.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
I’ve asked @mediagazer.com to please post my response. I don’t see it in its published material as yet.
January 6, 2026 at 9:48 AM
I’ve asked @mediagazer.com to please post my response. I don’t see it in its published material as yet.
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
An official NYT response means this is clearly a sore spot for them and people should keep hitting the target
NYT says a Trans News Network interview with ex-NYT editor Billie Jean Sweeney about NYT's gender identity coverage included "factually inaccurate criticisms" (The New York Times Company)
Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink
Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink
January 5, 2026 at 10:32 PM
An official NYT response means this is clearly a sore spot for them and people should keep hitting the target
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
I think it's hilarious that @nytimes.com thinks that they can print a "fact check" of former editor Sweeny's interview in which they say this is false and that is false without bringing receipts.
You have thrown away your credibility. Why should I believe bald assertions from you with no evidence?
You have thrown away your credibility. Why should I believe bald assertions from you with no evidence?
January 5, 2026 at 10:50 PM
I think it's hilarious that @nytimes.com thinks that they can print a "fact check" of former editor Sweeny's interview in which they say this is false and that is false without bringing receipts.
You have thrown away your credibility. Why should I believe bald assertions from you with no evidence?
You have thrown away your credibility. Why should I believe bald assertions from you with no evidence?
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
Your press release @nytimespr.bsky.social exudes grievance … but who has suffered harm here? A powerful institution whose coverage has been questioned, or the vulnerable ppl who have suffered from it?
Who really has “endured” harm?
I invite your response @nytimespr.bsky.social
Who really has “endured” harm?
I invite your response @nytimespr.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 12:38 AM
Your press release @nytimespr.bsky.social exudes grievance … but who has suffered harm here? A powerful institution whose coverage has been questioned, or the vulnerable ppl who have suffered from it?
Who really has “endured” harm?
I invite your response @nytimespr.bsky.social
Who really has “endured” harm?
I invite your response @nytimespr.bsky.social
Reposted by Billie Jean Sweeney
I am trans - AFAB nonbinary.
I deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
WE deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
I deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
WE deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
“Dr. Gregory Stanton, a former IAGS president who serves now as founder and president of the group Genocide Watch, said the attacks on transgender and nonbinary people in the U.S. represent a “genocidal” attempt “to destroy a gender group.”
From @walkerbragman.bsky.social
From @walkerbragman.bsky.social
NEW from Important Context:
Genocide experts, including two past presidents of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, are speaking out about escalating attacks on transgender Americans in the U.S.
www.importantcontext.news/p/experts-wa...
Genocide experts, including two past presidents of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, are speaking out about escalating attacks on transgender Americans in the U.S.
www.importantcontext.news/p/experts-wa...
January 6, 2026 at 5:06 AM
I am trans - AFAB nonbinary.
I deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
WE deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
I deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
WE deserve dignity, to be safe and to have a sense of belonging within community.
Folks, I just posted a thread re this. Please take a look.
Evan here. After thinking about this long and hard, I'm posting a link to a New York Times' response to an interview with Billie Sweeney (who generously volunteers as an editor and writer with Assigned Media).
This interview ran in another outlet, Trans News Network.
www.nytco.com/press/fact-c...
This interview ran in another outlet, Trans News Network.
www.nytco.com/press/fact-c...
Fact-Checking False Claims About Our Gender Identity Coverage | The New York Times Company
A recent post from Trans News Network included numerous falsehoods about New York Times stories on gender identity and maligned some of the journalists involved in the work. Our coverage is guided by…
www.nytco.com
January 6, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Folks, I just posted a thread re this. Please take a look.
Dear @nytimespr.bsky.social. Your press release re comments I gave to @transnews.network includes many errors but one assertion is true: “TNN featured an interview with a former editor on the International desk at The Times who was not involved in these coverage decisions.”
That is the problem
That is the problem
January 6, 2026 at 12:38 AM
Dear @nytimespr.bsky.social. Your press release re comments I gave to @transnews.network includes many errors but one assertion is true: “TNN featured an interview with a former editor on the International desk at The Times who was not involved in these coverage decisions.”
That is the problem
That is the problem