The spokesperson also confirmed that the hospital and its medical providers have been inundated with threatening emails and phone calls since the recording was shared last Thursday. This harassment has been accompanied by social media posts suggesting that the hospital should be bombed and its doctors should be jailed, placed in a woodchipper, or worse.
This isn’t the first time that Libs of TikTok has targeted trans healthcare providers. Just a few weeks ago, the account tweeted and retweeted 14 posts about Boston Children’s Hospital, spreading misinformation about the hospital’s gender-affirming healthcare practices.
As a result, Boston’s Children’s Hospital told Teen Vogue that they have received “a large volume of hostile internet activity, phone calls, and harassing emails including threats of violence toward our clinicians and staff” after Libs of TikTok falsely claimed that the hospital was providing genital surgeries on minors.
According to NPR, the U.S. Justice Department even weighed in on the matter, with the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts calling the threats “disturbing.”
These threats come as bills targeting transgender kids’ access to gender-affirming healthcare are being introduced and passed across the country. At the same time, doctors who provide the care are facing new waves of harassment.
Gender-affirming care can be lifesaving for trans and nonbinary youth. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, social and legal affirmation, like haircuts and name and pronoun changes, can occur at any age. Treatments with puberty blockers typically begin at the onset of puberty. Surgical procedures typically take place in adulthood.
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