The Age sacked one of its “star” columnists Julie Szego after her comments about “woke journalists” following the masthead’s refusal to publish her article about gender affirming care.
Trigger Warning: This story discusses anti-trans comments, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.
Szego had attended a March 2023 Melbourne rally by British anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen aka Posie Parker, which saw neo-Nazis performing the Nazi salute in front of the Victorian Parliament. Szego claimed that she attended the rally as a “journalist”.
Last week, Szego in a post on social media claimed that The Age editor Patrick Elligett had rejected an article submitted by her. “If you want to know why this piece was rejected, you’ll have to ask the editor,” Szego posted.
“I envisaged the piece as the first in a series; I’ll be rolling out more. And I’ll be writing about gender identity politics more broadly— without the copy being rendered unreadable by a committee of woke journalists redacting words they deem incendiary, such as “male”,” Szego said.
The Australian reported on Sunday that Szego had subsequently been sacked. Szego told The Australian that her comment about her colleagues had resulted in her sacking and claimed that her attendance at the anti-trans rally had “caused great suspicion” in the newsroom.
Read the article by Shibu Thomas in Star Observer.