Fox Pride, HRC Speak Out Over Fox Corp’s Anti-LGBTQ Coverage

Fox News‘ LGBTQ employee group, Fox Pride, is speaking out against the corporation now that it has turned to defend Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, and other anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. The Fox Pride group spoke out on Slack, an international communications platform. 

“Fox Pride denounces statements made regarding sexual orientation and gender identity on FOX News in the past week,” the group wrote in a statement obtained by The Daily Beast. “While the internal support and resources Fox Corporation offers to LGBTQ+ employees are amazing and supportive, the public facing messaging and rhetoric is the opposite. We find it disheartening and a step backward in the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.”

The statement continues, “FOX News is one of the most watched cable networks in the nation, and we must be mindful that the impact these words have on the LGBTQ+ community—especially youth.”

The network recently portrayed Disney as aiming to sexualize children. The co-host of Fox & Friends, Will Cain, suggested that Disney is turning kids queer, reading a quote from a video call of Disney executive Karey Burke saying her son told her that “Gen Z is 30-40% queer than other generations.” 

“What does that mean? What does it entail? What does it encompass?” Cain asks. “They are being fed these messages over and over from places like Disney, and now the numbers are going up?”

The Human Rights Campaign recently issued a statement against Fox News. HRC, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the U.S., additionally stripped Fox Corporation of its status as a preferred LGBTQ-friendly employer, condemning the network for its recent coverage and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

“We can no longer allow Fox Corporation to maintain its score if Fox News personalities and contributors continue to deny the existence of transgender people, minimize the violence transgender individuals face, refer to parents of LGBTQ+ youth as perverts, or equate leaders of LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusions efforts with sex offenders,” HRC spokesperson Aryn Field says. 

When asked for comment, Fox Corporation’s public relations team tells LGBTQ Nation, “We are fully committed to freedom of speech and freedom of the press because we know these precious rights as well as diversity of thought and opinion benefit us all.”

Photo courtesy of Fox News on Twitter