Petition demands Daily Hampshire Gazette apologize for transphobic opinion pieces

A western Massachusetts petition calling on the Daily Hampshire Gazette to apologize for and rescind transphobic opinion pieces has gathered more than 200 signatures from residents across the region, sparking debate about the newspaper's editorial judgment and the city of Northampton's stated commitment to trans safety.

The petition, started by local resident John Mark Lampley, also demands that the Gazette implement a hate speech policy. It follows the publication of a July 9 column by Karen Bercovici that characterized trans women and girls as a threat to sex-based rights, as well as several other opinion pieces in the Gazette and its sister publication, the Greenfield Recorder, that questioned the legitimacy of trans people's public identity.

Lampley said he was initially surprised and angry reading Bercovici's piece. "It really struck me because those aren't questions for debate," he said. "Those are real people that kind of language seeks to erase." He learned from other community members that this was not the first time the newspapers had published such content, prompting him to launch the petition.

Logan Cottonwood Kinney, a lifelong western Massachusetts resident who has been out as transgender since 2007, found Lampley's petition on social media and quickly signed. Kinney said the opinion pieces recall historical attacks on marginalized communities. "It really is a frustrating and terrifying repeat of the Lavender Scare," he said, referring to the mid-20th century moral panic targeting gay and lesbian federal employees.

The Gazette and Recorder have a longer history of publishing such content. In 2023, columnist J.M Sorrell compared drag to blackface and later described "gang rape" as "a trans tactic towards feminists of all kinds." A decade earlier, the Recorder published a letter implying that trans women were faking their identity to access women's bathrooms. The Daily Hampshire Gazette did not respond to requests for comment.

The controversy places pressure on Northampton's city government, which passed a resolution last year declaring the city a sanctuary for trans people. The resolution prohibits city resources from being used to detain people seeking gender-affirming care and bars cooperation with out-of-state agencies seeking information about such care.

Lampley told the Northampton City Council in mid-August about the petition and the harm caused by the publications. Ward 3 councilor Laurie Loisel, a former Gazette editor, published her own column in the paper criticizing Bercovici's pieces as "riddled with bigotry, false claims and animus towards transgender individuals." Loisel circulated Lampley's petition in her newsletter, though she said she does not agree with all of its demands. "Haven't you given Bercovici enough space to spout her falsehoods and hateful ideas?" she wrote. "It's getting repetitive."

Counselor Meg Robbins, who supports the petition, said the newspaper's content contradicts Northampton's stated values. "We have a City Council resolution that says we're a safe place for a trans community," Robbins said. "And then we have letters like this in our local newspaper — completely opposite of what we've declared as a community." She said she has spoken informally with trans members of the community who expressed feeling unsafe in the city following the publications.

Robbins said she would like the Gazette to be more transparent about its editorial process and to facilitate community discussion about what repair might look like. Councilor Rachel Maiore also supports the petition. Lampley also spoke with state Rep. Lindsey Sabadosa, D-Northampton, who directed him toward local organizations, and attempted to reach state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, without hearing back.