Healthcare providers in 21 states have been hurt by online harassment campaigns, the Human Rights Campaign said. Some patients and families have been unable to get care.
Bomb threats. Harassment. Disinformation.
Children’s hospitals have experienced all of these in recent months as they seek to provide gender-affirming care.
Between August and November, 24 hospitals and healthcare providers in 21 different states have been targeted in coordinated online harassment campaigns, according to a Dec. 13 report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The group’s researchers said they compiled the information in an “informal exploration” of social media platforms.
Threats and harassment have prevented patients from getting care at institutions such as Boston Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Wisconsin, the report stated. Some doctors have received death threats.
“As threats against the transgender community continue to rise – especially impacting Black, Brown and young transgender people – it is crucial that we look at who are the major players fueling this campaign of hatred,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.
“This report confirms what we have suspected for some time: these dangerous accounts are playing a major role in causing harm to healthcare providers and patients,” Robinson said. “They are no longer just making the internet an unsafe place for transgender...
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