24 Hospitals and Care Providers Targeted for Offering Gender-Affirming Care
A recent report has found that at least 24 hospitals and care providers have faced targeted attacks over the last two years for offering gender-affirming care. The vast majority of the incidents have occurred offline, while a small number have occurred online.
Offline Incidents
The report found that offline protests, which often involve picketing and disruption of medical services, were the most common type of incident experienced. In addition to this:
- Patients were threatened and intimidated by protesters at their care facilities.
- Death threats were made against staff and other medical professionals.
- Cars were vandalized in the parking lots of care facilities and health care workers’ homes.
Online Incidents
The online incidents have included:
- Social media campaigns aimed at discrediting gender-affirming care providers.
- False and misleading information being spread about care clinics and providers.
- Harassment of providers and patients on social media.
The report found that the majority of the incidents were perpetrated by “anti-transgender ideological extremists.”
Conclusion
The report concludes that there is an urgent need for public and private institutions to take action to protect gender-affirming care providers from targeted attacks. It also calls for the creation of policies to ensure that healthcare workers are not targeted for providing necessary gender-affirming care.