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The hospital said it has reached out to law enforcement agencies about the threats.
“In response to commentary last week critical of our Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMS) Program, Boston Children’s Hospital has been the target of a large volume of hostile internet activity, phone calls, and harassing emails, including threats of violence toward our clinicians and staff,” Boston Children’s Hospital said in an emailed statement. “We are deeply concerned by these attacks on our clinicians and staff fueled by misinformation and a lack of understanding and respect for our transgender community.
“Boston Children’s is proud to be home to the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the United States,” the statement added.
On Aug. 11, the popular right-wing social media account Libs of TikTok tweeted a video from a The Children's Hospital video that features a doctor discussing the removal of female sexual organs as part of sexual-reassignment surgery. The tweet says the hospital offered the irreversible surgery of "gender-affirming hysterectomies" to very young girls.
The post drew outrage from prominent figures in the Republican Party as well as hundreds of comments and angry replies. Dozens of popular ring-wing websites have published stories about the video.
However, PolitiFact said the clip strips away context and is purposefully misleading to create a false narrative.
The video never says the surgery is available for children. The hospital's website states the opposite.
To qualify for a gender-reaffirming hysterectomy, a patient must be 18 and have a "persistent, well-documented gender dysphoria," the website says. "All genital surgeries are only performed on patients age 18 and older." (emphasis theirs)
The hospital, which ranks among the best in the world, says that surgery would be the final step in a very long process that includes therapy and many discussions with doctors about potential alternatives. And a step that will only happen once the patient has reached adulthood and can make that decision for themselves.
"Surgery is never the first step in a gender transition," reads the hospital's website. "It is something that happens after you have already explored social and medical transition options."
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