YPA denounces the Dr. Phil Show

This comes after the airing of a transphobic episode entitled “Transgender Athletes”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 7, 2023

Contact: Cameron Bartosiewicz; outreach@ypapride.org

The Youth Pride Association denounces the Dr. Phil Show

This comes after the airing of a transphobic episode entitled “Transgender Athletes”

Hollywood, California (October 7th, 2022) – The Youth Pride Association, a nonprofit organization working to support LGBTQ students, denounces the Dr. Phil Show after airing a deliberately transphobic and bigoted episode entitled “Transgender Athletes”. 


Dr. Phil claims that his transphobia is rationalized by ‘science’, but the ‘science’ provided by Dr. Carole Hoveen was both irrelevant and intentionally misleading. The ‘science’ provided only assessed perceived physiological differences between biological males and females. This ‘science’ did not include any data on transgender athletes. Further, the sourcing for the ‘science’ utilized by Dr. Hoveen was whyevolutionistrue.com, a personal blog from a former ecology professor with several articles denouncing the inclusion of transgender individuals on the basis of morality and philosophy. Dr. Hoveen herself claimed that this is not a scientific argument, but a moral one. 


Nancy Hogshead-Makar and Riley Gaines equated a transgender athlete to cheating and ‘doping’. Riley Gaines went as far as to accuse Lia Thomas of cheating, implying that Lia’s jump from 400th to a top finisher was unnatural or obtainable if Lia had not transitioned. Gaines left out the fact that the 400th finish was while Thomas was transitioning, and that prior to transitioning Thomas had finished second in the 500, 1,000, and 1,650-yard freestyle. Dr. Phil’s guests had even called for “separate but equal” inclusion of transgender individuals, equating being transgender to being a paralympic athlete or special athlete 


“Trans individuals belong in sports. This was just a thinly veiled attempt to bash transgender individuals on national TV, ” said Cameron Bartosiewicz, President at Youth Pride Association. “It is beyond baffling to me that the executives at CBS, and by extension Paramount, allowed such a baseless, hateful, and transphobic episode to air. It calls into question the authenticity of CBS’s support of transgender and LGBTQ folk.” 


About Youth Pride Association

The Youth Pride Association (YPA) is a national nonprofit organization working to promote and foster the acceptance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) people in educational institutions. YPA works to address the adversities LGBTQ youth face in schools through education, support, and advocacy.

Youth Pride Association's President, Cameron Bartosiewicz, is available for interviews.

outreach@ypapride.org

(949) 755-7694

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