Throughout the debate over Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), the Fox TV affiliate in Houston, KRIV, has uncritically repeated the widely debunked myth that HERO would allow sexual predators to sneak into women's restrooms, contributing to public misunderstanding of the ordinance.

For the past year, Houston has been embroiled in a debate over the ordinance. HERO, which passed in May, bans discrimination on the basis of characteristics like sex, race, disability status, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Opponents of HERO have since fought to put the measure up for a public repeal vote, baselessly claiming that the law would allow male sexual predators to sneak into women's restrooms by pretending to be transgender. Experts in states and cities that have similar laws on the books have debunked this horror story, calling it "beyond specious."

But that hasn't stopped Fox 26 in Houston from uncritically repeating the talking point in its HERO reporting:

Fox 26's reporting is symptomatic of the kind of “he said, she said” journalism that often derails public debates about even basic legal protections for LGBT people. In order to appear balanced, news outlets will uncritically repeat both sides' talking points in their reporting without resolving which side is actually telling the truth.

Research shows that this kind of false equivalency actually ends up reinforcing misinformation: audiences start to believe the lie through mere repetition.

Journalism is about more than just repeating talking points and hoping audiences can figure out the truth. It's about actually doing the work to dispel falsehoods about issues that are important to the public. Fox 26 should be working to expose lies about Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance, not peddling them to a broader audience.

Video created by Coleman Lowndes.