Whatever you do, don't prank call HHS
The reporting tool would be swamped with nonsense. Then how would Trump find all the trans people?
On April 14, the Department of Health and Human Services set up a tip line encouraging the public to report providers of gender-affirming healthcare. It was reported yesterday in The Advocate.
The government is dignifying people who do this with the term whistleblowers, and promising to "protect" them for speaking up; however, a better word for them is informants, as they're naming doctors to an anti-science and anti-LGBTQ regime with the implication that the doctors are dissidents and criminals. Directly or indirectly, the trans people whom those doctors serve will also be named with the implication that they shouldn't be trans and shouldn't have access to supportive doctors.
It would be just 😳awful😳 if this communication tool for informants were drowned in spam. 😃
Be aware: On this new reporting tool, you have to provide your name, though you can ask the government to keep your name confidential (for what that's worth.) If you want to be entirely anonymous, the government directs you to instead use the Office of the Inspector General's hotline.
Please look at the broader context
I previously wrote about this executive order (8 min read, Medium, Jan 28). It restricts the provision of gender-affirming care to people under 19.
Hey — aren't 18-year-olds adults? Why, yes.
See Nico Lang's article published two days ago in Slate: "The real endgame of Trump’s assault on trans health care is now clear." It says: "This year, at least 27 states have introduced legislation that would restrict the ability of people over the age of 18 to medically transition..." [emphasis mine]
You can learn more from the UCLA Williams Institute.
Erin Reed wrote just now that, this year, the number of anti-LGBTQ bills "has ballooned to more than 850, the vast majority singling out transgender Americans. What we are witnessing now is not a legislative trend—it’s a coordinated nationwide crusade."
Naming people to the Trump regime is not a valid activity
Do not name anyone to the government.
Do not name an adult, a child, nor a doctor who might be providing care to an adult or child. I don't care if it's your child, your doctor, or your child's doctor. You might have what you think of as "reasonable concerns" about someone else's body or the way they live their life. You might wonder why they're trans or why they help trans people. You might even believe they need to be "fixed" or that they should change their ways. But if you truly cared about anyone's well-being, you would not report people in the queer/trans community to a hostile dictator who's looking for them. It is not safe. Nothing good will come of it.
You already know, but please explain that ⬆️ to others who need to figure it out today.
Instead:
Drown the tools that are used to report people.
Have some pride. 🏳️🌈
