Tucker Carlson hosted a coalition of anti-trans advocates from the evangelical right and a fake feminist group

Women’s Liberation Front’s Natasha Chart: “The sky is blue. Human beings can't change sex.”

Written by Brianna January

Published


Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson recently hosted a coalition of anti-trans advocates on his prime-time show: conservative advocate Penny Young Nance, who runs right-wing group Concerned Women for America, and Natasha Chart, a leader of the self-proclaimed “radical feminist” anti-trans group Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF).

Traditional conservatives have increasingly aligned with anti-trans advocates known as “trans-exclusionary radical feminists” or “TERFs” to push extreme anti-trans policies and rhetoric. TERFs hold extreme views on trans people and are widely rejected by feminists and members of the LGBTQ community. Together, the groups have worked to oppose the Equality Act, which “would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity” and passed the House of Representatives on May 17. Earlier this month, Nance and Chart co-authored an op-ed opposing the legislation.

The appearance of Nance and Chart on Carlson’s show is just one of several Fox News segments hosting members of this anti-trans coalition. This increased media presence also reflects more pronounced anti-trans advocacy by right-wing group the Heritage Foundation; the organization has held several anti-trans panels in 2019, many of which directly targeted the Equality Act.

From the May 17 edition of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight:

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Why is this a bad idea, this law?

NATASHA CHART (WOMEN’S LIBERATION FRONT): At base, it’s because human beings can’t change sex. This, you know, this is just a fundamental, material reality. The sky is blue. Human beings can't change sex. Having the law demand a belief in something that’s not true creates a lot of problems, too many to list, really.

CARLSON: Sorry, the simplicity of your answer is so wonderful. I’m really struck by it.

CHART: But at base, what it does is it abandons women’s safety protections, and it punishes men for good behavior.

…

PENNY YOUNG NANCE (CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA): I'm so proud of Natasha and her group for standing for it and taking leadership because there are all kinds of women on the left and the right who agree with us that these policies are so insidious that we have to speak up, and we won't be bullied and we will not kowtow to the left on this. So, there’s a lot of work to be done, but I am happy to say that I truly believe President [Donald] Trump sees our point on this issue, and we’re hoping to hear a statement of administration policy from the White House on this. This has such far-reaching consequences that people that don't agree on almost anything --

CARLSON: Yes.

NANCE: -- have put everything else aside to say, “We have to step forward and protect women and children against this horrible insidious policy.”