I agree, generally.

The media has, at best, one of the most thankless and impossible jobs imaginable - communicating nuanced ideas to people and explaining complex subjects in 500 words or less. Oh, and make sure to lead with the most important information so that the editor knows where to cut out the minutiae and subtlety.

The media has been avoiding dealing with how to talk about trans people for over 50 years because it's been so busy trying to figure out how to talk about a bunch of other topics like sexuality, and race, and green technology, and "what the fuck is a dot com?", and so on. I am a patient person, and a willing educator (or at least I try to be. I am not always my best self). I can see why some trans people are frustrated with the conversation, however. 50 years is a long time to be mostly ignored, and to be shown off as a sideshow freak when acknowledged.

I will mention, however, that Dr. McHugh has generally been discredited on trans issues, not to mention the rest of the LGBT spectrum. Indeed, as mentioned in this article (admittedly not a scientific journal), he is at odds with the World Health Organization, and his own employer, Johns Hopkins University. He's also at odds with the APA(pdf warning) and the American Medical Association - who has come out recently to say that trans people shouldn't require surgery to have their documentation changed (including their birth certificate).

He's got such a hate-boner for the LGBT community that GLAAD has a page dedicated to him, and how much of a fuckwad he is.

As part of the USCCB's Review Board, pushed the idea that the Catholic sex abuse scandal was not about pedophilia but about “homosexual predation on American Catholic youth.”

^ that one's some real gold right here. He also believe in reparative therapy (I.e. "Pray the gay away"). read this:

advocates for the transgendered have persuaded several states—including California, New Jersey and Massachusetts—to pass laws barring psychiatrists, even with parental permission, from striving to restore natural gender feelings to a transgender minor.

and change "gender" into "sexual" and "transgender" into "homosexual" in the last line. Same shit, new brand name.

You mentioned that Johns Hopkins stopped performing GRS. He's the reason, and he also commissioned the study which he then used to close down the program.

Here is an article breaking down McHugh's WSJ Op-Ed. I know it's from TransAdvocate, which does little for credibility, but it was written by a genetics researcher so it's worth the time to read, along with this Slate article.

The public is getting mixed messages about transgender people - it's tough to slog through the bullshit of dealing with someone of McHugh's caliber. On the plus side, at least the message is "mixed" these days, and not just "Hey look at the freak tranny."