A Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic employee amplified false claims about pediatric gender medicine.

Question

Alejandra Carballo, a Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic employee, amplified false claims about pediatric gender medicine and supported potentially dangerous online behavior.

Answer 1

This claim is false and the opposite is actually true. Carballo, in an interview with CNN Health, merely explained the danger of people who have actually been posting and amplifying false claims about pediatric gender medicine and spreading anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The second part of the claim is taken slightly out of context and exaggerated, as she made comments explaining that she is "shocked but not surprised" that Boston Children's Hospital was receiving threats because of the outpour of "accounts with millions of followers amplifying misinformation that hysterectomies are being performed on ‘young girls.’" Instead of while her slightly neutral tone could be confused for 'supporting' this behavior, it is clear in her actual comments that she is merely explaining the situation and speaking against it. So she never agreed with these claims or supported the behavior, but instead explained it in her interview in an undoubtedly negative tone. Lastly, she described such dangerous online behavior as "digital vigilantism," similar to that of the "anti-abortion playbook." 

Comments

^^^ ***SOURCE***: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/health/boston-hospital-gender-affirming-care-threat/index.html

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I like how in the claim you included direct quotes from the interview. This fact check is well done, proving the exaggeration of the claim. My only piece of advice would be to maybe find a second source to strengthen your argument. Overall, nicely done.

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I appreciate you finding where the article took a source out of context! It is very helpful to add context to the claim and be able to fully understand why it is not reputable!

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Hello! I really appreciated how you broke down the context and greatly described each part of misrepresentation that the article falsely stated. I agree with your mai point about how Cqarbello was not endorsing the misinformation and threats, that prove that false narrative spreading about the world's harm. I related with the quote speaking about the "sensitivity" of this issue because I do beleieve it creates such a political and biased discussion, which is sad that it's even discussed. I wonder how this talk well compare with the other talk of "anti-abortion playbook", as you discussed, and how Harvard would treat that case as well?

Answer 2

Alejandra Carballo is actually an activist for safe and proper trans/lgbtq healthcare, as well as someone who attempts to disprove misinformation about gender affirming care in youth. She claims that people have been lead to believe that hospitals are performing hysterectomies on young female patients, which is the cause of threats and violence towards said hospitals, but that this is actually false. She conveys that this extreme reaction to misinformation is somewhat logical due to the shocking and harmful nature of the claim, were it to be true, but is not affirming it to be true or displaying any support for this dangerous reaction (https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/health/boston-hospital-gender-affirming-care-threat/index.html). Carballo sites true gender affirming care for youths to actually be things such as haircuts, clothes, pronouns, names, and a loving environment. She also sites that the detransition and regret rate for this care is extremely low. She asserts statements such as claim discussed in the conversation about harrassment towards hospitals providing gender affirming care  to be fear mongering and scare tactics. She says the most brutal and disturbing terms are used to accomplish this, such as "mutilation" (as these supposed hysterectomies would be labelled) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8g21Ls5uHM). She discusses the widespreadness of misinformation surrounding trans youth, asserting that one of the most prolific sources for anti trans legislature (Irreversible Damage; The Transgender Craze Seducing our Daughters), used even in the supreme court, to be written by a freelance journalist with no medical training, expertise, or use of sources. In her own journal, Carballo informs us that the biggest struggles for transgender advocates and attorneys are "medical misinformation and intentionally manufactured controversy" which have been created to impede on gender affirming medical care (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-law-medicine-and-ethics/article/antitransgender-medical-expertindustry/25EFFECB8F71CA9A37F9F089E13BC41E). This is exactly what she referenced when talking about harrassment towards hospitals, spreading awareness for how these things arise and why they are dangerous, not supporting or condoning misinformation or threats to providers. 

Comments

I agree that your work has effectively challenges false narratives, particularly the claim that hysterectomies are being performed on young patients, and emphasizes the importance of supportive care like name changes and affirming environments. While Carballo is right to highlight the dangers of fear-mongering and the use of harmful language, such as "mutilation," it’s important to also acknowledge that misinformation about gender-affirming care spreads through various sources, not just individual books. Im curious as I see that while detransitioning rates are low, I would love to hear this view analyzed more from your articles of the affects of how research and education are necessary to ensure all medical practices are informed, accessible, and ethically communicated?

Answer 3

Alejandra Carballo according to Harvard law schools cyber law clinic is an attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund as well as staff attorney at the LGBTQ Law project at New York Legal Assistance Group. This claim is false as it twists Carballo’s real ideas surrounding false claims about pediatric gender medicine and the dangers when it comes to posting false medical claims on public platforms. In an interview that Carballo had with CNN, she states that “When you have accounts with millions of followers amplifying misinformation that hysterectomies are being performed on ‘young girls,’ it’s not so surprising that all of a sudden, this becomes the reason for people to act out and create threats and harassment against hospitals.” From this quote we can see that Carballo is upset yet not surprised at the magnitude of false information around this topic, as she states what is currently happening, people in the media have taken her comments with the wrong lens. She is not in support of these behaviors or claims, later in the interview she goes on to state, “I don’t think people understand the extent of it,” of threats against the LGBTQ community in general and against clinics that provide such care in particular. “There’s a constant drumbeat of homophobia and transphobia and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.” Caraballo is in favor of safe practices for LGBTQ and trans healthcare. She conveys that this anti LGBTQ rhetoric is dangerous and misleading on such a widespread internet scale. Additionally on the Harvard Law school's Cyber Law clinic website, Alejandra Carballo’s personal statement includes the following, stating that “Alejandra’s professional focus has been on advancing the civil rights of LGBTQ people in a variety of civil legal contexts such as healthcare access, immigration, and family law.” This statement further proves that the original statement of her amplifying false claims about pediatric gender medicine and supporting dangerous online behavior is false. Her job surrounds efforts of being inclusive and advancing rights of LGBTQ people in this case in the healthcare context thus conflicting with the false claim. 

Boston Children’s Hospital says it’s gotten violent threats over care for transgender children | CNN

Cyberlaw Clinic - Harvard Law School | Harvard Law School

Answer 4

I would like to state that this claim was taken out of proportion and not thoroughly researched before being uploaded. It has become clear that Alejandra Caraballo herself has never made false claims about pediatric gender medicine or supported dangerous behavior online. She has even published an online article expressing her support for the gender affirming care and provided a background history on transgender people and their stories. In a CNN article, Caraballo stated that there was extreme amounts of anti-LGBTQ, homophobia, and transphobia posts being uploaded to the internet. She never once expressed any type of support for the dangerous behavior online because she is in support of gender affirming care. Caraballo even goes on to try and find a reason as to why people in Boston would be targeting the hospital. She stated that the city is in support of LGBTQ laws and it would be extremely hard to ban these laws anytime soon. This would explain why many harmful posts are being made online. But Caraballo has been watching online posts about LGBTQ for awhile now and has never falsely commented on the topic itself. It would be beneficial to find a source that relates to you claim so that their is viable proof of the false claims.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/17/health/boston-hospital-gender-affirming-care-threat/index.html

 

https://harvardpublichealth.org/equity/to-protect-gender-affirming-care-we-must-learn-from-trans-history/