Brendan Carr pursues children’s programs that feature trans stories

Under the guidance of The consummate bully /Chairman Brendan Carr The FCC is taking steps to crack down on children’s entertainment that in any way explores the complexities of gender identity.

Wednesday, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) media office announced. It is requesting feedback from the public on whether the television ratings system has made sound decisions regarding children’s programming with transgender or non-binary characters. In a statement about the comment period, the FCC said it was soliciting comments due to an alleged increase in “significant concerns” about whether “controversial gender identity issues are being included or promoted in children’s programming without providing any disclosure or transparency to parents.”

“Specifically, the industry guidance parents rely on is to label non-binary gender and transgender programming as appropriate for children and young children, and to do so without providing this information to parents, undermines parents’ ability to make informed choices for their families,” the FCC explained.

on XCarr echoed his organization’s general sentiment and claimed that parents are concerned that “New York and Hollywood programmers” are pushing some sort of nefarious pro-trans agenda. Carr also insisted that these mysterious programmers are undermining the law and rating system that was created to protect children from inappropriate content.

All of the incoherent FCC noise Carr is making here transparently reads as an attempt to weaponize the entertainment industry’s classification system (which is voluntary) in order to erase trans and non-binary people from the media. like diverse NotesThe FCC does not directly control the ratings system, but it has the ability to make judgments about whether the ratings board is working effectively.

The way Carr describes it, you might get the impression that the FCC has been plagued by complaints from parents about shows filled with explicit messages and images that are inappropriate for young viewers. But in comment to diverseAnna Gomez, the FCC’s only Democratic commissioner, said that according to the FCC’s most recent annual report, there were only 11 public communications relevant to the (TV ratings) board’s work, and spot checks turned up only two instances where ratings actually needed to be changed.

“American families are concerned about affordability, access and rising costs, not whether the TV rating system contains adequate warnings about gender identity,” Gomez said.

The unfoundedness of these concerns becomes even clearer when you look at some of the questions the FCC is asking people to consider, such as whether the classification board should include “additional religious organizations” and more “stakeholders outside the entertainment industry.” Each FCC question is asked in a way that implies that the current classification board is not actually acting in the best interests of children. And while the FCC hasn’t explicitly stated that it doesn’t want trans and nonbinary people to appear on screen at all, it’s easy to see how the organization might want to use this process to launch a larger campaign designed to reduce LGBT representation.

What’s important to remember here is that no matter what kind of TV shows or movies they watch, trans, non-binary, and queer kids will always exist. These children and their cisgender peers deserve to be exposed to stories about different types of gender expression because they reflect the reality of how people live and move through the world. Parents owe it to themselves and their children to realize that the Trump administration’s FCC is trying to do just that Playing on people’s fears about children’s safety In order to advance her bigoted agenda. With any luck, this will all be over until Carr decides to choose another target.