Trump's FCC is eyeing warnings for trans TV content. Civil rights groups are pushing back

For decades, LGBTQ+ Americans fought to be visible on television screens that either erased them entirely or treated them as punchlines, predators, or cautionary tales. Now, a coalition of more than 40 civil rights, free expression, and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups says the federal government is flirting with reviving that history in a new form. This time, the government wants to put warning labels on shows that include transgender and nonbinary people.In a joint filing submitted Friday to the Federal Communications Commission, organizations including GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign, PEN America, PFLAG National, Lambda Legal, and others, warned that a recent FCC inquiry into television ratings could pave the way for government-backed stigmatization of LGBTQ+ representation on screen.Related: Trump’s FCC targets LGBTQ+ television content. GLAAD sounds alarmOn April 22, the FCC issued a public notice asking whether existing television ratings should include alerts for “transgender and gender non-binary programming” or for “the discussion or promotion of gender identity themes.” The notice asks whether such content should “be rated differently or contain relevant descriptions so that parents can make informed decisions.”Critics see it as part of a widening campaign by the Trump administration and its allies to pressure cultural institutions, media companies, universities, libraries, and corporations into narrowing public visibility for LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender Americans.The organizations behind the filing argued that the proposal does not merely tweak television ratings but risks framing LGBTQ+ identity itself as inherently suspect or inappropriate for general audiences.“Together, we affirm that depictions of LGBTQI+ identities, including specifically transgender and non-binary identities, belong in our television programs,” the coalition wrote. “We believe that all people — including all LGBTQI+ youth — deserve to see themselves represented