In mid-February, news broke of the horrific murder of transgender man Sam Nordquist, in New York. We here at GLAAD stand in solidarity with Sam’s loved ones as they demand justice. News of Sam’s death and the now seven individuals charged in connection with his death was picked up by media in New York, Sam’s home state of Minnesota, and nationally.

The New York Times, an outlet with a pattern of bias and inaccuracies within their coverage of transgender people, also covered the story. One Times articlecaught the eye of many LGBTQ people and allies, posted February 15th with a headline calling Sam a trans man, which is an accurate description of Sam.

On February 16th, the headline was changed from trans man to man.

Late that same day, the headline was again changed, this time from man to person. Sam and all victims of violence deserve accurate coverage of their lives. At a time when trans people and the word trans are literally being erased from government websites due to hate and anti-trans violence is increasing, Sam’s identity as a man who was trans must not be hidden behind generic language.

Why did the Times change their headline about Sam? Many LGBTQ people and allies wondered the same thing.

All of these headline changes are available to view directly here at the Internet Archive, which archives webpages.

One additional article about Sam was published in the Times, on February 17th. It appears that the online headline of that story included transgender man from publish time to present (as of February 26th), and the descriptor transgender man was a part of the print headline too.

GLAAD and 100+ organizations and leaders have been calling out the Times’ pattern of inaccurate, biased trans coverage since February 2023. The coalition recently placed a mobile billboard in front of Times’ offices requesting a meeting between leaders from the trans community and Times staff. Requests for this meeting date back longer than two years, to which the Times has not yet responded.