Pediatric gender clinics across the country, many in prominent children’s hospitals, are stripping their websites of information about the services provided to transgender-identifying and “gender diverse” children and adolescents.
Critics of radical gender theory turned their attention to clinics that provided puberty blockers, hormones for cross-sex, and minor surgeries. They believe these children are too young to fully understand and consent to their effects, and there is no evidence to support their effectiveness. Many children’s hospitals have changed or removed information regarding their gender-related services, and the doctors who provide them.
According to STAT News, at least 21 hospitals made recent changes to sections of their websites that describe their gender-related services. This is out of 34 hospitals in the country. STAT News reported that “about a quarter” of the 34 hospitals had removed information about doctors, therapists, and other personnel. Others removed entire pages or information about gender-affirming services.
Mid-August saw the public’s first exposure to Boston Children’s Hospital’s Gender Multispecialty Service website (GeMs). Boston Children’s Hospital welcomes patients as young and old as three years of age. It boasts that it is the first national pediatric transgender surgery center offering a “full range of surgical options for transgender teenagers.” Vaginoplasties and double mastectomy were available to both 15- and 17-year-olds.
Boston Children’s Hospital deleted its entire YouTube playlist about gender-related services after the information was made public. This included a video in which doctors spoke glowingly about the procedure of removing a young adult’s uterus and fallopian tubes.
The website has gone missing a list of 14 publications BCH participated in recently, including a paper on “Ethical considerations when establishing a Pediatric Gender Surgery Center” that describes their policies. The eligibility criteria for vaginoplasty surgery, which was only available to 17-year-olds, were changed to include the bold statement, “To be eligible for vaginoplasty at Boston Children’s Hospital you must be at minimum 18 years of age and meet certain criteria.”
Boston Children’s Hospital issued a statement in the midst of the backlash denying that they had performed genital surgery on minors and stating that “misinformation” was behind the criticism. Many left-wing publications seized the chance to criticize a “far-right internet harassment campaign.” NBC News, The Washington Post, and others blamed Boston Children’s Hospital for the backlash.
Other hospitals have been the subject of debate among prominent critics of radical gender theory and have since changed their websites.
After the critical media attention to their pediatric gender program, Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH), updated its website in August. Two pages were removed from the Gender Support Program website by PCH amid controversy over how they treat “gender-expansive” children who are dependent on hormones and puberty blockers. The web archive shows that they have removed the Meet Your Team and Resources pages from their navigation.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has removed the profiles of mental health professionals and medical doctors from their Center for Transyouth Health and Development website. Videos of instructions for intramuscular and subcutaneous injections are also missing.
We uncovered disturbing footage of a Vanderbilt University Medical Center doctor calling transgender surgery “huge moneymakers” in September. The Nashville-based hospital then removed the entire Pediatric Transgender Clinic website. The website was relaunched last week with slightly different words, changing “gender variant” to “gender diverse” in order to better describe the children and teens they treat. Links to their transgender programs were also removed.
According to Yale Medicine’s website, the Pediatric Gender Program at Yale Medicine “supports the needs of gender-diverse kids and their families” as well as “treats people as young and old as 3 and 25 years.” Christy Olezeski, the director of the Yale Gender Program, stated that their program is for “gender-expansive individuals ages 3-25.”
STAT news reported that one New England hospital had removed testimonials from patients and another removed the address of the facility’s coordinator from its website.
Three hospitals also removed pages detailing their services. Three more took information about the time slots available and where they were located, according to STAT. They also said that two of the YouTube educational videos were made private.
The American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Children’s Hospital Association sent a letter Monday to U.S. attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the administration “investigate” the entities, individuals, and organizations it claimed were “coordinating” with those who are providing controversial gender-related treatment.
Christopher Rufo, activist, and writer, compared the letter with an incident last year in which the National School Board Association and Department of Justice worked together to label parents who oppose Critical Race Theory “domestic terrorists.”
Rufo stated, “They want to stifle dissension, suppress speech, and criminalize resistance.”
Although threats of violence are unacceptable, it is difficult to ignore the violence done to minors under the pseudonym of “gender-affirming health care.” Many of these de-transitioners have spoken out against this “barbaric” practice.
