A Texas man was arrested Friday and charged with threatening to kill a Boston doctor who provided care for transgender people, federal prosecutors said.
Threats in August The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said the 31st incident against doctors affiliated with Boston’s Healthcare Education Center came after “inaccurate information was spread online” about Boston Children’s Hospital and transgender care.
Prosecutors said Matthew Jordan Lindner, 38, of Comfort, called the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center and left a voicemail saying, “You’re all going to be burned.”
He also allegedly said “there was a group of people dealing with” the doctor and that “you signed your own arrest warrant”. Authorities have not confirmed the doctor’s identity.
Lindner was charged with one count of spreading an interstate threat. He was arrested Friday in Texas, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“Mr. Lindner’s alleged conduct — death threats — was based on lies and amounted to workplace violence,” U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins said in a statement. She said it was rooted in hatred.
Lindner’s attorney is not listed in court records.
“My son is a good guy,” said a woman who answered the phone for the number he listed in online records, but declined to give her name or comment further.
In August, Boston Children’s Hospital received other threats, along with threats against doctors, over false claims to provide gender-affirming surgery for children.
In October, a central Massachusetts woman was indicted for allegedly calling a hospital on Aug. 12 and threatening a bomb. 30.
Catherine Leavy, 37, of Westfield, allegedly said there was a bomb on the road and “you better evacuate everybody, you sick people,” according to a criminal affidavit in her case. complaint. She pleaded not guilty.
Boston Children’s Hospital is home to Gender Multispecialty Services, which provides care for transgender and gender-diverse youth. When it launched in 2007, it was the first major project in the country to do so, it said. It does not provide genital surgery to persons under the age of 18.
Several children’s hospitals, most notably Boston Children’s, have been the target of a far-right harassment campaign led by anti-trans influencers with a collective following of millions.
The FBI said in court filings it was an ongoing campaign of false claims of pedophilia or “trolling” at Boston Children’s, with death threats and threats of mass-casualty attacks.
The National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center is a program of Fenway College, which is part of Fenway Health. Fenway Health said it will continue to work with law enforcement to respond to threats designed to intimidate those individuals from receiving the health care they deserve.
It said “negative rhetoric” against trans people and gender diversity fueled attacks on medical professionals.
“We appreciate law enforcement’s swift action to help stop hate threats and harassment against physicians,” the group said in a statement.