UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh has recently been targeted by alt-right figures for providing children with transgender care, such as puberty blockers. This appears to be part of a pattern of online harassment aimed at hospitals nationally that provide such care to youth. Similar attacks have been made against schools for teaching sex education and libraries for supplying books about the LGBTQ+ experience.
Christopher Rufo, a Washington State-based activist known for his opposition to critical race theory, seems to have begun the spread by reposting a short video on Aug. 12 made by UPMC Children’s, in which adolescent medicine specialist Dr. Cherie Priya Dhar discusses the gender-affirming care available at the hospital. From Mr. Rufo’s Twitter account, the video has been viewed over 900,000 times.
Boston Children’s Hospital has also come under fire for providing transgender care, receiving threats of harassment to the point that it has partnered with law enforcement to protect its physicians.
The Department of Justice released a statement on Aug. 17 condemning the threats and saying it would prioritize confronting hate crimes.
“Children deserve an opportunity to thrive and grow as their own authentic selves. Parents/guardians and health care providers who support them in that journey should be allowed to do so free of threats and harassment. I want to make it clear that the Department of Justice will ensure equal protection of transgender people under the law,” said U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins in the release.
In Pittsburgh, a UPMC spokesperson said in an email that the health system is taking steps to protect patients and staff. “After an increase in the number of social media threats and other events impacting hospitals and physicians around the country where some specialty services are available, UPMC locations are operating with enhanced security measures to ensure the safety of our patients, visitors and staff. All hospital services are operating normally.”
The hospital declined to provide further information about the services it provides, but said in the email, “UPMC provides gender-affirming care, and the medical evidence shows that access to this care correlates with better physical and mental health as children age.”
Another social media attack involves a video from April 2021 in which state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, interviews Dr. Gerald Montano, a UPMC adolescent medicine physician, about transgender care.
That video has had over 250,000 views through the Twitter account of Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh, who identifies himself in his Twitter bio as a “Theocratic fascist, bestselling children’s author, women’s studies scholar, biologist.” Last winter, he was exposed for tricking transgender people into participating in a documentary under a fake company called the Gender Unity Project.
Mr. Walsh tweeted on Aug. 17 that “it is an objective fact that @ChildrensPgh chemically castrates children.” In January, his account was briefly suspended for violating Twitter’s hateful conduct policy.
In the video, Dr. Montano explains that transgender care varies by age. He says that at age 5, medical intervention for a child exploring their gender would not occur because it is not necessary. A 10-year-old child may be eligible for puberty blockers under the supervision of their primary care provider, family and therapist.
Puberty blockers are medications that pause puberty for LGBTQ+ youth who are experiencing distress and discomfort from their gender identity, commonly called gender dysphoria. According to a fact sheet on UPMC Children’s website about puberty blockers, they temporarily stop the body from producing hormones like estrogen and testosterone only while the person is taking them.
Puberty blockers do carry some risks, like potentially reducing bone density and affecting growth and height. The hospital wrote in the fact sheet that regular checkups to measure bone density while on puberty blockers may be recommended by the patient’s care provider.
In the video, Dr. Montano said most transgender care for young children involves simply having conversations about gender identity and ensuring the child feels comfortable.
Daphne Retter, chief of staff for Mr. Frankel, said the video was made “because we found that distortions of the truth of gender-affirming care were gaining traction, largely because most people just didn’t have the accurate information.”
In terms of surgery, Dr. Montano said, “The vast majority of surgeries are not done until the youth is 18 years old. The only exception is top surgery,” meaning the removal of breasts, “which, sometimes that is done earlier. And again, that is an intensely personal decision between the child, the family, the doctor, the surgeon, and the mental health provider to see if that is the right path.”
A 2017 study found that of 49 people in the study who had received top surgery, 94% were satisfied with their results. More recent studies have found similar results.
“When people have all of the information, they can see that gender-affirming care is the best treatment we have for a condition that has inflicted a great deal of suffering and tragic outcomes on young people,” said Mr. Frankel, who serves as the Democratic chairman of the House Health Committee. “It took more than a year for anti-LGBTQ+ forces to find and distort my interview about this cautious, research-backed area of medicine and exploit it for outrage bait.”
A Kaiser Family Foundation article published in June on transgender care and recent restrictions on it in states like Arkansas and Alabama wrote that “most major U.S. medical associations, including those in the fields of pediatrics, endocrinology, psychiatry, and psychology, have issued statements recognizing the medical necessity and appropriateness of gender affirming care for youth, typically noting harmful effects of denying access to these services.”
Transgender people experience higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide than their peers. A 2022 survey from The Trevor Project found that 50% of LGBTQ+ youth ages 13 to 17 “considered suicide in the past year,” and 18% attempted. But when LGBTQ+ youth receive gender-affirming care, research shows their risk stabilizes. Another fact sheet from UPMC stated that if children have concerns about their gender identity for 6 months or longer, these concerns are likely to remain unchanged.
A profile called “Libs of TikTok,” with accounts on social media sites like TikTok, Twitter and Instagram reposted Christopher Rufo’s tweet of Dr. Montano and Mr. Frankel’s interview a few hours after Rufo posted it, spreading it to an additional 1.3 million followers. As of Friday, the video had been retweeted more than 3,500 times on the Libs of TikTok Twitter account.
Transgender activist Erin Reed and others have called on Twitter to ban those who are spreading misleading information about transgender care at UPMC and other children’s hospitals. “Medical decisions should be between families, patients, doctors, and caregivers,” she wrote.
Hanna Webster: hwebster@post-gazette.com
First Published: August 27, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: August 29, 2022, 12:16 a.m.