Michelle Wu responds to attacks on Boston Children’s Hospital

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The mayor said Thursday that Boston has “become a bit of a target” for white supremacist actions and “culture wars.”

Mayor Michelle Wu responded Thursday to harassment and threats made at Boston Children’s Hospital, attacks that the facility says began pouring in after misinformation about its transgender health program went viral.

“This is medical care,” Wu said during an appearance on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. “This is one of the best-known, best-known medical facilities in the country, doing what they do best – which is providing important and necessary care for the health and well-being of our community members.”

The attack against the hospital began last week when a conservative Twitter account posted a series of false information about the services provided by the hospital.

Since then, the hospital said it had been inundated with “hostile internet activity, harassing phone calls and emails, including threats of violence” towards its doctors and staff.

“The article and the ensuing online attention was based on the erroneous statement that Boston Children’s performs hysterectomies on minors in connection with transgender care,” the hospital said in a statement earlier this week. “For a hysterectomy performed as part of gender affirmation care, Boston Children’s requires that a patient be able to consent on their own. Age 18 is used to reflect the standard age of majority for medical decision-making. Boston Children’s does not – and will not – perform a hysterectomy as part of gender affirmation care for a patient under the age of 18.

‘Dangerous, unacceptable and reprehensible’

The hospital’s move has been roundly condemned by local doctors, including the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Dr. Theodore Calianos, president of the medical society, said he supports all efforts to hold accountable those responsible for the harassment directed at Boston Children’s.

“The Medical Society condemns all acts of bigotry, including aggression and threats aimed at patients and families who seek evidence-based, medically appropriate and necessary care, and health care workers who strive to provide care in a safe and inclusive,” he said in a statement. “Actions that prevent access to health care are dangerous, unacceptable and punishable. These unjust and hateful threats not only contradict the Medical Association’s assertion that health care is a basic human right, but also reflect the harmful effects of creating and spreading misinformation.”

In response to the hospital attacks, US Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement Wednesday that she will “ensure transgender persons have equal protection under the law.”

“Children deserve an opportunity to flourish and grow as their authentic selves,” Rollins said in a statement obtained by Boston Globe. “Parents/guardians and health care providers who support them on that journey should be allowed to do so without threats and harassment.”

“We represent what progress looks like”

Wu said during her radio appearance Thursday that the targeting and harassment of health care providers at the Boston hospital is not surprising in today’s political culture.

“We are in an increasingly heated, divided and violent communication environment,” she said.

The mayor noted that when she recently attended a meeting of mayors from around the country, “almost every woman mayor” said they had experienced people demonstrating outside their homes or receiving threats on a regular basis.

It was a pretty clear pattern, she said.

Since Wu took office, particularly during the first months of her administration, protesters have targeted her Roslindale home for early morning demonstrations, prompting the proposal and passage of an ordinance to limit picketing hours outside residences.

The mayor said on Boston Public Radio that after passing the ordinance, limiting picketing from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the presence of demonstrators outside her home has largely decreased, indicating to her that the initial interest was not for her. protested during a “reasonable time of day.”

Rather, it was to “harass” her neighbors and the residential community to “score a political point,” she said.

“We in Boston have a responsibility not only to try to continue to move toward policy and do our job and address the big issues, but to help reshape our political system so that, at least locally, there is borders and protections for people’s health and health and mental health and civil discourse in our city,” Wu said on the radio show.

Host Jim Braude noted that to him it’s no coincidence that the harassment and white supremacist activity being seen in Boston is happening when there’s “no white guy who’s mayor of Boston.”

Wu agreed that it’s not an unreasonable connection to make, noting that it’s also about the leadership and policies being put forward at various levels of government, from the mayor’s office to congressional representation to the Attorney General. USA.

“I think for some people who feel quite threatened, like their way of life or their way of being dominant, is potentially disappearing, which is first of all just short-sighted, isn’t it? We know for a fact that the greatest benefit, the greatest progress, the greatest productivity comes from diverse and representative spaces,” said Wu. “This has been proven through research and studies in every setting.”

But the diversity of Boston’s leadership makes it stand out to those who feel threatened, Wu said.

“Boston has become a bit of a target in terms of culture wars and white supremacist action because we represent what progress looks like and how you can very quickly incorporate voices from all of our communities and that makes a difference,” she said. .

During her appearance on the show, Wu also responded to a listener who called into the program, raising concerns that the city’s response to recent neo-Nazi demonstrations by groups like the Patriot Front and NSC 131 is only paying attention to hate groups.

She said the caller made a “good point,” noting that the goal of white supremacist groups is to “provoke a response so they can make a little video of themselves and paint themselves as victims in the situation that people cry out. them and that their way of life is under attack.”

Still, Wu said she and city leaders want to be aware, take action and prepare because the groups’ ideology is dangerous.

“Ideology and steps [that] between provoking a reaction, taking violent action, acting in a major act of domestic terrorism, there aren’t that many steps in between,” Wu said. “And we want our residents to be fully protected at all times, not having to face the danger that this very dangerous ideology poses to members of our community.”

The mayor said the city is working “very closely” with state and federal law enforcement agencies on the matter. Earlier this month, Rollins opened a hotline where residents can report suspected white supremacist activity or any other form of hate crime.

Wu stressed on Thursday that there is a “zero tolerance policy as it is”.

“Any line that’s crossed, whether it’s a city ordinance about noise or vandalism and putting posters on poles, we will act on it, and our local law enforcement agency partners are prepared and trained to do so ,” she said.