International Trans Day of Visibility is not new news for Fox. As White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed out on Monday, the official X account for Fox TV shared its support for the annual day of recognition back in 2021.
But that didn’t stop Fox News and others on the religious right from framing President Joe Biden’s show of social media support for the trans community on Sunday as a blasphemous act against the holy holiday Easter.
Then, in its own coverage of Jean-Pierre’s pressroom address on the Easter controversy, Fox News and host Harris Faulkner appeared to edit around the mention of their company’s tweet of support, which is still viewable on the platform today.
“We were at first, I want to be very clear, confused on their coverage. We’re grateful that Fox agrees with President Biden about the importance of recognizing Trans Day of Visibility,” Jean-Pierre said, quoting the 2021 tweet. “Trans Day of Visibility is dedicated to celebrating transgender people, their contributions to society and raising awareness of discrimination they face. To all the transgender men, women and non-binary folx, we see you and stand with you.”
On Monday, Faulkner addressed the controversy that took place over the weekend after Fox reported on Saturday that President Joe Biden “announced” that Trans Day of Visibility — which celebrates the trans community and raises awareness around the discrimination members face — would be recognized on Easter. In their broadcast, Fox News didn’t let the full clip of Jean-Pierre’s statement play out.
“As a Christian, who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignities and freedoms of every American,” Jean-Pierre said in the portion of the press conference aired. “Now, sadly — and it’s not surprising, right? It is actually unsurprising, that politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful and dishonest rhetoric. It is dishonest, what we’ve heard in the past 24 hours. It is untrue what we’ve heard over the weekend.”
The clip, which was just moments away from getting to the press secretary’s derision of the news network, then cuts back to Faulkner, appearing to edit around the mention of their own support.
“And if it seemed like she was reading that that’s ’cause that was the same statement that we were all given as media yesterday,” the host said.
This year, Easter Sunday just so happened to fall on the same day of Trans Day of Visibility, which has been held on March 31 since 2009. Easter, meanwhile, falls on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox — in other words, it’s a different date each year.
Read tweets shouting out the conspicuous reporting below.
