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.
Over the summer, critics of radical gender theory began turning their attention toward the clinics providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to minors, who they believe are too young to understand, let alone consent to, their permanent impacts, and for which there is no long-term evidence demonstrating their efficacy. Since then, many of the children’s hospitals have modified or removed information about their gender-related services and the physicians who provide them.
At least 21 hospitals have recently made changes to the sections on their websites describing their gender-related services out of 34 hospitals across the country, according to a review by STAT News. “About a quarter of those 34 hospitals removed information about specific doctors, therapists, and other personnel, while others removed information or entire web pages about gender-affirming care,” wrote STAT news.
In mid-August, Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) was the first to have their Gender Multispecialty Service (GeMs) website brought to public attention. Boston Children’s Hospital invites new patients as young as three years old and boasts of having the first pediatric transgender surgery center in the country offering a “full suite of surgical options for transgender teens.” Double mastectomy surgeries and vaginoplasties were offered to 15 and 17 year olds, respectively.
After this information was made public and received critical response, Boston Children’s Hospital wiped their entire YouTube playlist on gender-related services, including a video where doctors spoke in glowing terms about the process of removing a healthy young adult’s uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and cervix for an elective “gender affirming hysterectomy.”
A list of 14 recent publications that BCH participated in, including a published paper on the “Ethical issues considered when establishing a pediatric gender surgery center” that describes their policies went missing from their website. Most notably, the eligibility for vaginoplasty surgery that was available to 17 year olds was altered to a statement in bold reading, “To qualify for vaginoplasty at Boston Children’s Hospital, you must be at least 18 years old and meet certain criteria.”
Amidst the backlash, Boston Children’s Hospital put out a statement denying that they performed genital surgeries on minors, and that the criticism they received was due to “misinformation” about their services. This caused many left-wing publications to pounce on the opportunity to decry a “far right online harassment campaign.” NBC News and The Washington Post blamed those who had publicized Boston Children’s Hospital’s practices for the backlash against those practices.
Since then, other hospitals have become the focus of discussion amongst prominent critics of radical gender theory, prompting them to alter their websites.
Phoenix Children’s Hospital (PCH) updated their website in mid-August after critical media attention of their pediatric gender program. PCH removed two pages from their Gender Support Program website amid controversy for treating “gender expansive” children with puberty blockers and hormones. A web archive shows that the Meet Your Team and Resources pages are missing from their navigation.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles removed profiles of the medical doctors and mental health providers on their Center for Transyouth Health and Development (CTYHD) program website. Also missing are videos of intramuscular and subcutaneous self-injection instructions.
After Daily Wire host Matt Walsh revealed shocking and disturbing footage taken of a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) doctor referring to transgender surgeries as “huge money makers” in September, the Nashville-based hospital removed their Pediatric Transgender Clinic website in its entirety. Last week, the website resurfaced with slightly different wording, swapping “gender variant” for “gender diverse” to describe the children and adolescents they treat. Additionally, links to some of their other transgender programs have been removed.
Yale Medicine’s Pediatric Gender Program “supports the needs of gender-diverse children and their families” and “treats people as young as 3 and up to age 25,” according to their website. Speaking in a now-deleted promotional video to potential patients and their families, director of the Yale Gender Program Christy Olezeski said that their program works with “gender-expansive individuals 3 to 25.”
“One New England hospital removed testimonials from previous patients, while another scrubbed the name of the gender clinic’s coordinator and the facility’s address from its website,” said STAT news.
In addition, three hospitals removed entire pages about their services, and three more removed information about what time slots were available for appointments and the location of facilities, reported STAT. “Two made educational YouTube videos private,” they added.
On Monday, the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Children’s Hospital Association wrote a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the administration to “investigate the organizations, individuals, and entities” that it claimed were “coordinating” and “provoking” outrage in response to those providing the controversial gender-related treatments.
Christopher Rufo, activist and writer, compared the letter to an incident last year when the National School Board Association, Department of Justice, and FBI worked together to label parents who opposed Critical Race Theory as “domestic terrorists.”
“They want to stifle dissent, suppress speech, and criminalize opposition,” said Rufo.
While threats of violence are reprehensible, it is impossible to ignore the violence being done to minors in the name of “gender affirming care,” many of whom have emerged as detransitioners speaking out against the “barbaric” practice.