A group of lawmakers called for the U.S. Department of Justice to address threats of violence against children’s hospitals in a letter.
“We urge you to outline the steps the Department is taking to counter anti-transgender threats of violence occurring online and in person and to provide further guidance to health care providers on how to protect their staff and patients from such threats,” said the letter signed by 36 House Democrats.
According to a press release from Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), the letter was written in response to a wave of threats against children’s hospitals in the U.S. for their treatment of transgender and non-binary patients.
Boston Children’s Hospital has been the target of three bomb threats, with the latest occurring this month, said the press release. Per the hospital website, it is home to the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the nation.
“We believe in a gender-affirmative model of care, which supports transgender and gender diverse youth in the gender in which they identify,” said the hospital. “This is a standard of care grounded in scientific evidence, demonstrating its benefits to the health and well-being of transgender and gender diverse youth.”
Pressley’s office said the most recent threat to Boston Children’s follows similar threats to medical institutions across the country. These institutions include: the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
“Our trans youth deserve to receive essential, life-saving, gender-affirming health care and our medical personnel should be able to provide it without fear of being attacked,” said Pressley. “From the brutal nightclub shooting in Colorado Springs this weekend to the latest bomb threat against Boston Children’s just last week, anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ violence is on the rise and must be taken seriously.”
So far, five people – including transgender people – have died from injuries sustained during the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs. Nearly 20 other people were injured as a gunman attacked the LGBTQ+ club. GLAAD has published a list of ways to help the community in the wake of this tragedy.
This shooting follows the mass shooting murder of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, this year, as well as other mass shootings. As of Tuesday, the Gun Violence Archive has reported 605 mass shootings in 2022.
“I’ve been studying mass killings for over 40 years and I am quite confident that there has never been a year where we’ve had so many,” said James Alan Fox, the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University in Boston.
Another mass shooting targeting the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade was the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla.
“I am appalled that anyone would sink so low as to threaten children’s hospitals that care for many of the most vulnerable Americans,” said Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Pa.) of the letter sent to the DOJ this week. “These hateful threats have consumed law enforcement resources and caused disruptions for patients, the families, the staff and the community – and they need to stop! And the shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado is another tragic example of what anti-LGBTQ incitement does in America and shows the need to take this seriously.”
In their letter to the DOJ, the lawmakers noted that false claims of child abuse spread by extremist groups on social media preceded the initial Boston Children’s bomb threat.
“Several online accounts have leveled unsubstantiated accusations against other children’s hospitals to millions of followers, claiming that these health care providers are abusing minors as part of a political agenda,” they explained. The lawmakers also asked DOJ to respond to several specific questions regarding whether the agency plans to coordinate its response with trans advocacy organizations.
In addition to elected officials, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have called on the DOJ to investigate threats related to those seeking or providing gender-affirming care.
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