summit to combat extremist violence; HRC commends decision

By: Chris Gilmore TRT Reporter

Recently, the White House announced it would host the “United We Stand Summit,” an event to combat the spread of radical violence and misinformation from hate groups and individuals. Hate-driven violence against people of color and LGBTQ+ people is on the rise, according to the Human Rights Campaign, HRC.

“We are living in a time of polarization and extremism, with dangerous, extremist rhetoric on the rise,” read Joni Madison’s statement, HRC’s Interim President. “We have seen a marked increase in online vitriol against LGBTQ+ people that has led to acts of intimidation and violence in real life – not to mention an increase in state legislation that targets the LGBTQ+ community.”

In just the last few months, almost a dozen Black people were killed at a shooting in Buffalo, New York (https://n.pr/3UUTXxp); Proud Boys crashed Drag Queen (https://cnn.it/3E96uHy) story hour at a local library in California to shout homophobic and transphobic slurs; and Boston Children’s Hospital’s (BCH; https://bit.ly/3CoGBSU) patients and providers were the targets of violent threats following a campaign of anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation on Twitter.

The BCH incidents were worsened in August, when anti-trans activist

(https://bit.ly/3CsIZYX) Chris Elston — who travels across Canada harassing hospitals and their staff over gender-affirming policies for trans youth — tweeted out a video from Boston Children’s Hospital to falsely claim it was performing hysterectomies and genital surgeries on minors. The targeting of Boston Children’s Hospital escalated when Chaya Raichik, who operates the social media account “Libs of TikTok,” shared the misinformation video with her 1.3 million Twitter followers making equally false claims as Elston.

However, their information is fabrications, experts assert.

PolitiFact (https://bit.ly/3rl3jFf), for instance, found that minors are not having any surgeries as the misleading information mentioned. Indeed, Politifact asserted, “patients must be 18 or older and have a letter from a medical doctor stating they have ‘persistent, well-documented, gender dysphoria’” in order to qualify for the procedure.

“The hospital adheres to medical guidelines developed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (https://bit.ly/2Qfw2Lx), or WPATH, which doesn't recommend surgical treatment for children,” read Politifact’s other findings on the hospital’s methods.

HRC’s Madison said that hatred and extremism, being used by those misinforming the masses, has consequences.

“The rise of this online hate does not have only political implications; violent rhetoric leads to stigma, radicalization, and ultimately violent actions,” Madison added. “Nearly onein-five of any type of hate crime is now motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ bias, and the last two years have been the deadliest for transgender people, particularly Black transgender women.”

The Facts

Currently, two of the states with the highest amount of transgender children are Texas and Florida. Yet, according to Scientific American, lawmakers in each state (and others) have sought to exclude the “tens of thousands (https://bit.ly/3e77jpA) of transgender children and teenagers currently living in these states (https://bit.ly/3rnfVvg)

By: Audrey Cole TRT Reporter

BOSTON—The monkeypox virus has been thrust to the forefront of the latest public health emergencies in the U.S., with clusters of outbreaks found predominantly within the gay population. Such findings have prompted widespread stigmatization and violence against members of the queer community, according to recent media reports.

“I’ve actually had more experiences of homophobia the past couple of months than I have ever before, just this summer alone,” said Robert*, 25 of Washington, D.C.