Hasnain says:

I regret that I canceled the NYT sub ages ago so I can’t cancel again.

“On August 22, the day before publication, Heidi says she began to fear the story would be just that. She’d traveled three hours to Springfield, Missouri to watch Reed testify at the Greene County Courthouse in a hearing on whether to allow Missouri’s gender-affirming care ban to come into effect.* Ghorayshi was there too, and watching Ghorayshi interacting with Reed “in the exact way she was talking to us,” Heidi began to suspect the story would be a positive portrayal of Reed, the woman she’d proved had misrepresented her daughter’s private medical history in a sworn affidavit. Angrily, she confronted Reed, identifying herself as “liver toxicity mom.” During their encounter she describes seeing Reed looking over to Ghorayshi during the encounter, seeking support.

According to Heidi, the confrontation ended with herself in tears, and Reed laughing as she walked away. “This is a positive portrayal of her,” she recalls telling Ghorayshi. “We’re out. We’re out.”

This wasn’t what Ghorayshi wanted to hear. As Heidi describes it, Ghorayshi followed her to her car, at one point standing in an open car door to prevent them from driving off, adamantly arguing for the family not to leave, not to end the conversation, and above all not to pull out of the piece. Eventually, Heidi and her husband drove away, feeling certain that they were through. But Ghorayshi called and called, and eventually they relented, allowing her to come to a hotel room they’d booked for the night. There, the three spent hours going over every paragraph, as described in detail by Ghorayshi, of what the upcoming NYT article would contain.

Heidi and her husband weren’t happy with what they heard, but now they were faced with a terrible dilemma. If they pulled out of the story there would be nothing on the record showing that Reed’s affidavit directly misrepresented a specific event.

“You’ve betrayed us, Azeen. You have completely betrayed us,” Heidi recalls telling Ghorayshi that night. Defeated, they eventually agreed that their story would remain in the piece.”

Posted on 2023-09-03T21:33:02+0000