In Monday’s New York Times, an article by the national reporter Dan Frosch examined a Colorado case involving a 6-year-old child, who is biologically male but identifies as a female. The article used the child’s name, Coy Mathis, and two color photographs that showed her face clearly.
A writer from Spain, William Christian, objected to how The Times handled the child’s privacy, and raised some interesting and valid questions. He wrote:
I trust I am not the only person disturbed by the NYT’s article on a transgender child featuring a 6-year-old with name and photograph. I have no doubt the NYT did so with permission of the parents, but the child will live with this the rest of her life, and it should be her decision, made in the fullness of time and the awareness of consequences, to make herself a public personage, not that of parents, a reporter, or newspaper editors. Children can be cruel, and this child will find no escape from what you all have done together. Please think twice and think hard about this.
I spoke with the national editor, Sam Sifton, about The Times’s treatment of the child’s identity. He confirmed that the parents were fully on board with how the situation was treated. What’s more, he said, The Times was not the first to use her name or image. She had already appeared on national television and been prominently featured at events promoting transgender rights.
“We certainly think about these things, but in this case, there was no need for a vigorous discussion,†he told me. “We were not introducing this child to the world.â€
Coy had already become “quite literally, the poster child†for the issues that are cropping up in schools around the country, Mr. Sifton said.
He makes a good argument. Once a child has been on set with Katie Couric, privacy issues are pretty much moot, although The Times should always consider its own standards as well. A more intriguing case would arise if The Times was the first major news outlet to use her image and full name. Even so, my sense is that parental approval, along with the child’s own willingness, should rule the day.
And I can envision other situations in which parents advocating for a child in this way - those with autism or Down syndrome, for example - would not raise these kinds of questions.
“Many people presume that there is something negative about being transgender and that’s not the case,†said Jeff Perrotti, a Cambridge-based author and consultant (and close friend of mine) who works with schools to support transgender students and their families.
As Mr. Christian rightfully observes, sensitivity is crucially important when children are involved in news stories. I can imagine situations when The Times might have to make some tough decisions that balance news gathering priorities with privacy concerns, but I don’t think the story about Coy Mathis was one of them.
