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The New York Times is facing backlash after publishing a Father’s Day guest essay about a transgender parent who described learning how to be a “trans dad.”
The essay, titled “To My Daughter, My Gender Was Never Complicated,” was published Sunday morning and presented in comic-strip form. It was written by Zach Ellams, a biological woman who identifies as a male, and focuses on Ellams’ experience raising a daughter while navigating questions about gender.
Several illustrations show the child asking direct questions in everyday settings.
“How long did you have breasts for, Dad?” the daughter asks in one panel as the two walk down the street.
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People walk past The New York Times Building, a 52-story skyscraper on the west side of Midtown Manhattan, on January 14, 2025, in New York City. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
In another scene at a pool, the child asks, “How did you grow a mustache if you were a lady?”
A separate panel shows the daughter on a playground telling another child, “I want to grow a beard when I grow up.”
“You can’t grow a beard. You’re a girl,” the other child replies.
“My dad did, and he was a girl,” Ellams’ daughter says.
The essay suggests the child accepts Ellams’ gender identity with ease, helping the author more fully “embrace” who they are.
Critics, however, blasted The Times for choosing to publish the piece on Father’s Day.
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The New York Times building is seen on May 6, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
“The New York Times published cartoons about being a trans dad for Father’s Day,” Katie Miller, podcaster and former Department of Government Efficiency aide, wrote on X, “This is how they envision corrupting our children.”
Sean Davis, CEO and co-founder of The Federalist, accused the paper of using Father’s Day to celebrate “playing daddy dress-up” as the “true embodiment of fatherhood.”
“The New York Times celebrated Father’s Day by saluting the real heroes: left-wing gender goblins who think mentally ill women mutilating themselves, mainlining hormone injections, and playing daddy dress-up are the true embodiment of fatherhood,” Davis wrote.
“On Father’s Day, the New York Times is celebrating gender confused mothers. Wokeness may be limping a bit from injuries, but it isn’t dead,” Seth Dillon, CEO of The Babylon Bee, wrote.
Tim Young, a media fellow for strategic communications at The Heritage Foundation, also criticized the piece.
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President Donald Trump also ripped The New York Times on Father’s Day. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“The New York Times reminds us all that they hate actual fathers on Fathers Day,” Young wrote.
The Father’s Day controversy came the same day President Donald Trump separately ripped the news outlet on Truth Social over its coverage of Iran.
“The way the Corrupt and Failing New York Times is covering stories on a very battered and beat up Iran, through FAKE & MADE UP “FACTS” is, in my opinion, ‘TREASONOUS.’ I will be adding all of their false and ridiculous reporting to my multi Billion Dollar lawsuit against them. They are Criminals!” Trump wrote.
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The latest backlash adds to a string of recent controversies involving The Times, including criticism earlier this year over an opinion column by Nicholas Kristof that drew condemnation from critics and the Israel Foreign Ministry.
