Trump's FCC is eyeing warnings for trans TV content. Rights groups are pushing back

The FCC issued a public notice asking whether existing television ratings should include alerts for transgender and gender non-binary programming or for discussion or promotion of gender identity themes. The notice asks whether such content should be rated differently or include relevant descriptions so parents can make informed decisions. Critics argue the proposal is part of a broader effort to pressure cultural institutions, media companies, universities, libraries, and corporations to narrow public visibility for LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender Americans. A coalition filing states that depictions of LGBTQI+ identities belong in television programs and that parents and guardians, not government regulators, should decide what children watch. The filing warns that special advisories could create a discriminatory precedent resembling earlier moral panic campaigns targeting marginalized communities in media.

"The FCC issued a public notice asking whether existing television ratings should include alerts for "transgender and gender non-binary programming" or for "the discussion or promotion of gender identity themes." The notice asks whether such content should "be rated differently or contain relevant descriptions so that parents can make informed decisions.""

""Together, we affirm that depictions of LGBTQI+ identities, including specifically transgender and non-binary identities, belong in our television programs," the coalition wrote. "We believe that all people - including all LGBTQI+ youth - deserve to see themselves represented in the media. And we also believe that parents and guardians, not government regulators, should be the ones deciding what their children are able to watch.""

"The filing warned that any requirement to flag transgender or nonbinary characters with special advisories would establish what the groups describe as a discriminatory precedent with echoes of earlier moral panic campaigns targeting marginalized communities in media."

"Critics see it as part of a widening campaign by the Trump administration and its allies to pressure cultural institutions, media companies, universities, libraries, and corporations into narrowing public visibility for LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender Americans."

Read at Advocate.com