In 2023 so far, 580 anti trans bills have been introduced across 49 states with 85 passing so far. WTRF sees this as an opportunity to share trans-related articles from anywhere in the world.
“The goal is simple,” said John Lynch, their social media manager. “We know people in this area hate anyone who appears different, especially those who identify as transgender and even drag performers. It’s a hot topic right now and it’s fuel we can give our followers to share hate, make threats, and just make it very uncomfortable for certain members of that LGTBQ community to feel unsafe in their own neighborhood. We want to let those followers know, WTRF is a safe space for them to spread hate and violence.”
“We haven’t seen interaction on our social media like this in a long time,” adds Brenda Danehart, WTRF news director. “The more uncomfortable we make this area for transgender individuals, the more clicks and comments we receive on our social media posts. If it means making it unsafe for a marginalized group to help boost our social media numbers, it’s well worth it so Nexstar thinks we’re all really good at our jobs.”
In one day recently, WTRF made two posts about a transgender woman who won “Woman of the Year” award for a queer publication in the UK and two other posts about a drag performance class you could take out in California.
“The best part is, as long as you don’t mention the location, our followers are too dumb to click on the article to see it’s not local and they automatically go on the offensive and that could mean thousands of comments and a big spike in traffic,” added Lynch.
“As long as there is a marginalized group for us to capitalize on, we don’t really need to push hard on covering more localized stories that can benefit the community,” added Danehart.
Danehart added she hopes WTRF has a direct role in making sure any future trans youth move far away from the Ohio Valley instead of making sure people feel welcomed to the Friendly City.
Any real, semi-real or similar names, places, people, products, services and locales are used purely for satirical purposes, and the corresponding story details are purely fictional. The articles contained herein are to be considered satire, parody, surrealism, and humor.
