Where’s the fist in the latest LGBTQ attack on liberty?

The NBC News website includes a section called NBC OUT, which provides “LGBT Community News, Culture & More.” Hmm: It’s no surprise that NBC OUT dispenses with the patina of neutrality that its parent pretends to maintain, but should NBC be a megaphone for threats that may be extortion?

Dawn Ennis is the writer of a story NBC OUT published yesterday titled “Human Rights Campaign Sets Sights on Johns Hopkins After Controversial Trans Report.” Dawn (formerly Don) Ennis is the subject of a documentary, Before Dawn/After Don. Ennis is hostile to a new report, “Sexuality and Gender,” coauthored by Dr. Paul McHugh, a distinguished Johns Hopkins psychiatry professor who says transgenders suffer from a mental disorder for two reasons: Their thinking does not “correspond with physical reality” and “can lead to grim psychological outcomes.”

No surprise there, and it’s legit for NBC OUT to give the new report a negative review. But Ennis says the new report will be “costly” to Johns Hopkins. How costly? Ennis wrote, “The claims made by the authors have triggered an unprecedented review by HRC [Human Rights Campaign], which … says it has been warning the internationally respected university medical school for several months that it will remove its name from an elite classification in its Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) unless action is taken. A person with knowledge of HRC’s leadership decisions told NBC OUT that after repeated warnings, Johns Hopkins is now on the brink of losing its perfect score on that closely-watched benchmark for LGBTQ equality.”

“A person with knowledge …”? WORLD gives a source anonymity only when revealing the name would threaten his life or job or the lives of family members. NBC apparently has different standards when it is willing to convey threats. But what does it matter if Johns Hopkins loses its perfect pro-LGBTQ score? HRC spokesman Sarah McBride said there would be “consequences” unless Johns Hopkins distances itself from McHugh. Hmm. Sure, some individuals will be less likely to support Johns Hopkins and some more likely. That’s fine—but does an imperfect HRC score mean less government money? Time for more research—but if you know where’s the fist in HRC’s threat, let me know.