Doctors who treat trans patients say threats worsened after Trump’s orders

Panic buttons, security cameras and active-shooter drills: Those are some of the ways doctors who treat transgender children have armed themselves when facing violent threats over the years. Now, they’re warning the president’s actions could make things more dangerous.

Even before President Donald Trump attempted to ban gender transition care nationwide for young people, protesters routinely demonstrated outside clinics that treat trans youths. Some carried signs with violent messages and the names of doctors who treat trans children. One entered a Seattle clinic with a weapon, according to court records.

Now doctors say threats of violence are rising — along with fears of legal action — in the wake of Trump’s Jan. 28 executive order that labeled gender transition care for minors a “dangerous trend” and “a stain on our Nation’s history.” Dozens of providers gave sworn affidavits as part of a lawsuit four states filed challenging the legality of Trump’s executive order.

Providers in those Democratic-led states remain so afraid, many agreed to file affidavits challenging the order only if they could do so anonymously. Washington’s state attorney general led the legal effort.

“I am scared, not just for myself, but for my family,” one Seattle-based physician and professor wrote in court documents. “It is a terrifying time to be a doctor providing gender-affirming care.”

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Source: Washington Post, 9 March 2025