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Who is Glenn Greenwald? Edward Snowden journo says trans people reducing lesbian numbers, dubbed 'transphobic'

Twitter users slammed Greenwald for claiming that masculine girls are now encouraged to identify as trans, causing a decrease in the lesbian population

A recent Gallup poll about lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender identification stated that an increase of 5.6% has been noted when it comes to Americans identifying under these categories. Linking to the poll, American investigative journalist and former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald posted a series of tweets with snapshots of the statistics, which has raised hackles within the queer community and among allies.

In his first tweet, he wrote: "There's been a huge explosion in the number of Americans identifying as LGBT. Close to 1 out of every 5 Gen Z so identifies (17%). That's more than a 4-fold increase from Gen X (4%). But almost all of the increase comes from those identifying as bi or trans, not gay or lesbian." In the same tweet thread, he said: "Of Americans now claiming "bi" identity, the vast majority of them in long-term relationships are in opposite-sex relationships (33%) rather than same-sex ones (3.7%). So 10 times more people who identify as "bi" live in hetero-appearing relationships than gay/lesbian ones." The final and most incendiary tweet was his last one: "Finally, as famed lesbian @kittypurrzog notes, there are now -- among Millennials and Gen Z -- more people identifying as trans than lesbian. She has previously argued that masculine girls are now encouraged to identify as trans, causing a decrease in the lesbian population."

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His flawed interpretations of the data was called out on Twitter for its transphobic and bi-phobic slant. "the chart showed the number of lesbians had actually almost doubled from 0.8% to 1.4%," pointed out one user, that directly contradicted Greenwald's claim that somehow identifying as trans was resulting in the decrease in the "lesbian population".

American LGBTQ+ activist and writer Charlotte Chymer tweeted: "Cis lesbians who present as masc are found EVERYWHERE in queer spaces. Everywhere. Greenwald lives inside his own head on trans issues and just comes up with this shit to explain his own discomfort, and it's truly, truly embarrassing to witness" and added that: "Go to a lesbian bar or queer women space in pre-COVID times, and you'd just see a bunch of lesbians and queer women, cis and trans and non-binary, masc and femme and everyone in between, just hanging out and enjoying each other's company. His conspiracy nonsense is mortifying."

Others also chided Greenwald for not understanding the specific issues of discrimination that trans people face. "For a lesbian to pretend to be a trans man to avoid stigma and find belonging would be an out of frying pan into fire sort of scenario. That's a lot of work and body impact that would feel unwelcome, with nothing to gain in terms of acceptance," said one user replying on Chymer's tweet thread attacking Greenwald. Sarah Thyre, voice artist and writer, also gave her two cents saying: "Why doesn’t everyone butt out and stfu and let people be who they are, that’s my evergreen question." 

Twitter users identifying as trans also came out with their own experiences that directly contradicted Greenwald's claim. "It's absolutely the opposite. I was always told how many feminine attributes I had, so I couldn't be trans! I had to kindly remind my psychiatrist and endocrinologist that not every cis man is a hetero lumberjack stereotype. Endo was an older trans woman too... Ugh!" said one tweet.

In another sarcastic tweet thread, one user said, "It's fun to be a parent of a trans kid, too! Clearly I planned all along to have a child, raise them as one gender for 11 years, and then do the ol' switcheroo. I LOVE having strangers tell me I'm an abusive monster and that my child is an abomination! So cool!" to which another user added: "Plus that giant bump in salary what with all the extra employment opps, healthcare access & ppl willing to date you"  

Who is Glenn Greenwald?

Greenwald worked as a corporate lawyer, before founding his own civil rights and constitutional law firm in 1996. He started blogging about national security issues in October 2005 as he grew increasingly worried about the Bush administration's attack on civil liberties post 9/11. In June 2013, while working for the US edition of the Guardian, he began publishing a series of reports detailing previously unknown information about American and British global surveillance programs based on classified documents provided by former Intelligence Community officer and whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Along with other reporters, Greenwald won both a George Polk Award and a Pulitzer Prize for the reporting. He has also written best-selling books including 'No Place to Hide'. In 2014, he, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, launched The Intercept, for which he was co-founding editor until he resigned in October 2020. While with Intercept, he and his team blew open the Operation Car Wash cover-up in Brazil, causing considerable problems for the Jair Bolsonaro regime.