At 12:15 p.m. ET on June 2, the second day of Pride Month, the official FBI Twitter account posted:
“Help the FBI protect children. As the Attorney General has made clear, we will protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of gender-affirming care. Report tips of any hospitals, clinics, or practitioners performing these surgical procedures on children at 1-800-CALL-FBI or http://tips.fbi.gov.
By early afternoon the message sat at about 86,000 views, attracting replies that range from cheering to open threats. The Bureau has neither deleted nor amended the tweet.
The wording echoes President Trump’s January 28 executive order that re-labels all gender-affirming care for minors as “chemical and surgical mutilation” and threatens to strip federal funding from hospitals that provide it. Civil rights groups have already sued to block the order, calling it unconstitutional discrimination.
Doctors warn that federal rhetoric can translate into violence. Boston Children’s Hospital endured lockdowns after a 2022 bomb-threat hoax tied to similar misinformation about its transgender surgery program.
The American Medical Association states that gender-affirming care is “medically necessary, evidence-based care” and calls government interference a “dangerous intrusion into the practice of medicine.”
Providers report installing panic buttons and cancelling some procedures since Trump’s order. Many fear prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 116, a law written to combat non-consensual genital cutting that now looms over surgeons who treat trans teens.
A coalition led by the ACLU, Lambda Legal, and PFLAG argues that the tweet proves federal intent to criminalize accepted medical care; their suit seeks a nationwide injunction against the order.
The Bottom Line
The FBI has turned a routine tip line into a culture-war loudspeaker, suggesting that parents and physicians could be criminals for following every major medical guideline. For transgender youth and their families, the practical fallout is immediate: delayed care, frantic hotline calls, and fresh waves of fear.
Remember: Your health care is not a crime, and professional consensus is firmly on your side. If you feel unsafe, contact Trans Lifeline (877-565-8860), the Trevor Project (866-488-7386), or your local LGBTQ legal center for support. The Bureau may have raised its volume, but our community has faced louder sirens before, and we are still here.
