Death threats, doxxing and panic buttons: Docs who treat trans youth are under attack
politico.comBoston Children’s Hospital has received several bomb threats.The gender clinic at Seattle Children’s Hospital has installed panic buttons and hired a full-time security guard.Doctors who treat transgender children are receiving death threats, debating whether to buy guns, scouring the internet to see if they’ve been doxxed and trying to get their addresses removed from property records.The impact of gender-affirming care bans — inflamed by the rhetoric on the right about “child grooming” — is rippling beyond Republican-controlled states, making it harder everywhere for transgender youth to receive care and physicians to provide it, eight doctors who provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth told POLITICO.
The Human Rights Campaign and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which have been tracking attacks against doctors, report similar findings.Even in states without bans, providers said death threats, harassment, fears of litigation and, in some cases, a lack of support from institutions have created a chilling effect that undermines their ability to provide care.“I got an email telling me that I’m evil, I’m foolish, my work is opposing God, that I harm children, that I’m going to hell, and that I should die,” said Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of pediatrics who specializes in adolescent medicine at Yale University.
