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Anti-trans activists are using ‘mirror propaganda’. Here’s how to spot it

People claiming to be ‘silenced’ are being featured in national mainstream media platforms. There’s a word for that

Anti-trans activists are using ‘mirror propaganda’. Here’s how to spot it
Hundreds of trans rights protesters gathered outside Broadcasting House, the BBC’s headquarters in central London, 8 January 2022 | Bex Wade @bexwade. All rights reserved
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The recent backlash against Graham Norton’s entirely reasonable suggestion that the media talks to more trans people was more revealing than people think.

He came dangerously close to exposing organised transphobia’s core campaign strategy, something they don’t want people talking about. In collaboration with mainstream media, its main strategy has been to liberally platform anti-trans narratives, hermetically exclude trans perspectives, and at the same time accuse trans people of ‘silencing’ transphobes.

For example, a transphobic group holds a rally somewhere – maybe a couple of dozen transphobes in a draughty church hall. There’s a protest outside. A journalist, with confected faux-indignation, then claims trans people are ‘silencing’ them.