Thank you for having the courage to write about this so people can understand what's happening.

Your story brings to mind that until a couple of years ago, I frequently worked with a non-profit group in your state that goes to extraordinary lengths to support queer youth who are experiencing suicidal ideation.

For several different stories, I interviewed their staff members, and they arranged for me to interview some of their clients who wanted their voices heard.

It's hard to imagine their work being controversial. They provide a hotline service for adolescents in extremis, and they often arrange (and pay for) professional, in-person counseling intervention by esteemed and respected professionals.

Then they started getting bomb threats. The FBI visited them and advised them to stay away from Pride parades, because they had specific information about credible threats of violence.

Some of their staff started being followed around in cars by strangers. They made a policy decision to stop all communication with the press, both myself and with Vice, which had done a major story on their group that resulted in an explosion, no pun intended, of violent threats.

They're still around, but they're being very quiet, doing a difficult balancing act of supporting queer youth without bringing attention to themselves.

I'm sorry that your university seems to be giving in to a kind of broader transphobia the creates this kind of situation.

I'm sorry you have to feel this fear, and I'm sorry your students are terrified, which I have no difficulty at all believing.

Thank you so much for speaking up!