What's so pernicious about this, and so very toxic, is that doctors in the United States do not perform gender-affirming genital surgery on minors. It doesn't happen, it's ethically proscribed, and nobody suggests the situation should be any different

Carlson, Libs of TikTok (a social media account leading the drive to terrorize hospitals), and Republican spokespeople are ramping up this false fear-mongering for political gain and power.

Real people are suffering terribly for it.

In my latest story on Medium, I wrote about a gay boy who almost succeeded killing himself due to his unaccepting family and community.

I wrote about how when he was in therapy, his mother pulled him out twice, even though he was still at high risk of suicide, because of messaging from the political right. She specifically told me Tucker Carlson was one of the reasons.

At one point, her son's regular therapist went on vacation, and he was offered remote sessions for 2 weeks with a psychologist based at Boston Children's. At the time, Boston Children's was one of the targets of the attacks you're talking about.

She would not let him talk to this therapist, because she believed the lies, even though her son is gay and not trans.

He ended up in the hospital again, this time for self-harm that involved slashes over his entire body that needed stitches.

This is the kind of bullshit Carlson and the rest of the desperately ignorant right-wing hate mob is causing.