Groups who claim to promote diversity and inclusion refuse to acknowledge lesbian trailblazer

Bari Weiss made history this week as the first openly LGBTQ journalist to lead a major network newsroom. Paramount announced Monday that Weiss, the former New York Times opinion writer who founded the Free Press, would serve as editor in chief of CBS News. Alas, the landmark achievement was largely ignored by media outlets and LGBTQ activist groups that purport to celebrate diversity and inclusion.

Stories from the legacy wire services, Reuters and the Associated Press, did not even mention that Weiss was gay and happily married to Free Press cofounder Nellie Bowles. Neither does CNN's report on Weiss's new role at CBS News. The New York Times briefly mentions toward the end of its story that Weiss is married to Bowles, a former Times reporter, but does not address the historic implications for LGBTQ representation in mainstream media.

These outlets and their counterparts were far more eager to tout the identity politics angle when Karine Jean-Pierre was appointed White House press secretary in 2022, becoming the first openly LGBTQ person and the first Black woman to hold the role. The Associated Press and CNN mentioned Jean-Pierre's sexual orientation in their headlines, the Times in the subhead, and Reuters in the lead paragraph. All four included comments from her predecessor, Jen Psaki, about why Jean-Pierre's historic promotion would "give a voice to so many and allow and show so many what is truly possible when you work hard and dream big." (Jean-Pierre is now widely regarded as one of the worst White House press secretaries in history.)

Activist groups lauded Jean-Pierre's appointment as a victory for the LGBTQ community, yet they have been conspicuously silent on Weiss's contribution to inclusive representation. GLAAD, which praised Jean-Pierre as a "brilliant communicator and person of tremendous intelligence" who would "represent every LGBTQ person with pride," did not respond to a request for comment on why they haven't issued a statement on Weiss. Neither did the Human Rights Campaign nor the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.

One might argue that these groups are less inclined to celebrate corporate hirings because they are focused on LGBTQ inclusion in politics. But that wouldn't explain why they refused to comment when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made history as the highest-ranking openly gay government official. LGBTQ activist groups were similarly unenthused when Donald Trump named Richard Grenell as acting director of national intelligence in 2020, which made him the first openly gay official to serve in a cabinet-level position. GLAAD eventually placed Grenell on a watch list that tracks "anti-LGBTQ rhetoric," and accused him of promoting Trump's anti-gay agenda.

Cathy Renna, a spokesman for the National LGBTQ Task Force, which rejoiced over the "historic first" of Pete Buttigieg's nomination to be the first openly gay cabinet secretary, told the Washington Free Beacon to reach out to GLAAD for comment. She then emailed a link to a "very interesting" article in Them, an LGBTQ magazine owned by Condé Nast, denouncing Weiss for her "anti-trans" views and ties to "trans-exclusionary figures such as Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling." Ironically, it is one of the only articles we could find that describes Weiss as "one of the only out LGBTQ+ people ... to lead a legacy media company."

The journalist who wrote the piece, Them lifestyle editor Quispe López, identifies as a "transmasculine Quechua Qariwarmi." In case you were wondering, this refers to the pre-colonial Inca shamans called qariwarmi, or "men-women," who worshiped a jaguar deity, wore androgynous attire, and took part in rituals involving gay sex.

Another LGBTQ magazine, the Advocate, also published a story on the "anti-trans queer journalist" named editor in chief of CBS News, which builds on an earlier feature describing Weiss as the "right-wing anti-trans queer woman being given the key to CBS News." The Advocate wrote several stories celebrating Jean-Pierre's appointment as the first openly gay White House press secretary. In 2015, the magazine praised Thomas Roberts, the "rugged and dashing" MSNBC personality, for his "flawless" broadcast as the first openly gay journalist to anchor a major network's (NBC) evening newscast.

The obvious explanation for the double standard is that most journalists and LGBTQ activists are appalled by Weiss's slightly right-of-center political views, which are more in line with what most Americans actually believe. For example, liberal activists and their Democratic allies continue to advocate for transgender participation in women's sports even though more than two-thirds of Americans disagree.

Weiss is also Jewish and does not support Hamas, the radical Islamic terrorist group dedicated to the destruction of Israel. This view runs counter to the ideology espoused by many LGBTQ activist groups in the United States, which have expressed solidarity with the anti-Semitic terrorists. Alas, the support has not been reciprocated. Last month, an anti-Israel flotilla organized by Greta Thunberg was thrown into chaos when a self-described "queer activist" attempted to join the effort. Flotilla activist Samir Elwafi denounced the "suspicious" homosexual and accused him of desecrating the "sacred cause."