Boston Children’s Transgender Health Program Targeted in Online Harassment Campaign
Staff and clinicians at Boston Children’s say the harassment includes aggressive calls, emails, and death threats.
(Photo: gustavofrazao, Adobe Stock)
Boston, Massachusetts – Boston Children’s Hospital is coordinating with police and warning its employees about growing false claims and harassment on social media by far-right activists about the hospital’s treatment of transgender adolescents and young adults.
Staff and clinicians say the harassment includes aggressive calls, emails, and death threats, reports WBUR.
The harassment began last week when several conservative social media accounts, including the Libs of Tik Tok, shared posts about the hospital’s website video on hysterectomies, claiming Boston Children’s conducts the surgery on children. That claim is false. The hospital only performs these surgeries on patients who are 18 or older.
Earlier this week, the hospital’s public relations office emailed employees on how to respond to harassment and threats, reports NBC News.
The harassment campaign isn’t limited to Boston Children’s. Other hospitals that offer healthcare to transgender children are now also being targeted.
The harassment follows discourse online that falsely links LGBTQ+ teachers and parents to pedophilia. Additionally, 15 states have restricted access to gender-affirming care or are considering legislation that would do so, according to the UCLA Williams Institute.
In response to the harassment, Boston Children’s posted the following statement on Twitter.
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Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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