Boston Children’s Hospital has reaffirmed its commitment to providing gender-affirming care for trans youth and says it won’t give in to bullying by the current administration.

“Boston Children’s Hospital has always been and always will be committed to providing the best care for ALL of our patients, regardless of their gender identity,” reads a statement on the website of the hospital’s Gender Multispeciality Service (GeMS) program. “The belief that all children deserve the opportunity to live, grow and thrive with love and support, is foundational to who we are and what we do.”

Related

She fought for trans youth in her home state. Now she’s fleeing over fears for her safety.
“I feel unsafe almost everywhere. It’s really scary,” says Hometown Hero Harleigh Walker.

The statement said the hospital is “proud” that GeMS is the country’s first pediatric and adolescent trans health program.

Insights for the LGBTQ+ community

Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

“We believe in a gender-affirmative model of care, which supports transgender and gender diverse youth in the gender in which they identify,” it continued. “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. In addition to supporting our patients and families, we stand with our colleagues who may identify as transgender or gender diverse, those who provide care to transgender youth and who are allies to the transgender community.”

The statement also decried the hundreds of anti-trans bills being proposed and passed across the country. “The proposed bans on medical care, sports participation and other legislation aiming to restrict the rights of transgender and gender diverse youth are in direct opposition to our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusivity, as well as the standard of care that we live by,” the hospital said.

The hospital also affirmed its support for the Equality Act, which would provide nationwide nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people.

“We are here to affirm, uplift, and advocate for transgender and gender diverse youth,” it concluded, “and we remain committed to doing all we can to support their care and well-being.”

This unwavering commitment to trans youth is especially significant considering the growing list of providers giving in to pressure from the president and ending their trans youth gender-affirming care programs in recent weeks, including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, University of Chicago Medicine, Stanford Medicine, Children’s Hospital Colorado, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and others.

A judge’s order in March temporarily halting an executive order to deny federal funding to hospitals that provided gender-affirming care to youth gave providers some hope that the programs could be spared.

But following the Supreme Court’s Skrmetti decision allowing Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care to remain in place, providers across the country are coming to grips with dual attacks: threats to end vital federal funding for hospitals (in the form of grants and participation in Medicare and state Medicaid programs), and a legal landscape newly hostile to the rights of trans youth and their families as they navigate medical decisions in the face of government scrutiny.

In the wake of Boston Children’s support of trans youth, prominent right-wing troll Chaya Raichik, who goes by Libs of TikTok on social media, called for the hospital to be “immediately defunded and investigated.”

In 2022, Raichik was one of a handful of right-wingers who whipped up outrage over the hospital’s services for trans youth, which led to a series of bomb threats against the institution.

It was around this time that anti-LBGTQ+ politicians and activists began falsely claiming that medical providers across the country are giving “irreversible” treatments to trans kids. In reality, gender-affirming surgery is rarely performed on minors. Doctors instead help young people explore their identities through social transition and reversible puberty blockers.

Nevertheless, that August, Raichik spread the false story to her 1.5 million followers that Boston Children’s was performing hysterectomies “for young girls” as part of their gender-affirming care program. No such surgeries were or are available to trans boys under 18. The disinformation was amplified across right-wing media.

Physicians at the hospitals received so many death threats, harassing calls, and emails that the hospital had to hire extra security and give doctors new guidance on responding to threats. 

Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines joined Raichik in smearing Boston Children’s for standing up to the administration. Gaines slammed the hospital for receiving federal funding while “performing this butchery.” Despite her exaggerated rhetoric, gender-affirming surgeries are almost never performed on minors.

Despite all of this, the hospital seems to be standing firm in its commitment.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.