Boston Children's Hospital received another phoned-in threat Friday, Boston police confirmed .
Multiple units responded to the hospital on Longwood Avenue at 11:39 a.m., police said. and more details were not immediately available. The hospital had not addressed the threat by the end of the day Friday
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This is the second threat to the hospital in recent weeks. On Aug. 30, an anonymous bomb threat set off a lockdown at the hospital while a bomb squad canvassed the building. Nothing suspicious was found in that instance, and no one was hurt.
Police have not described the nature of that threat night or offered any details about its potential origin.
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Boston's Children's Hospital recently warned staff about an increase in threats to their institution, which were tied to the care the facility offers to transgender youth.
Some of these threats stem from misinformation posted online about the nature of the procedures performed and a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that has surfaced in recent years.
Some phone calls and emails have threatened violence against doctors and staff, and the hospital said in a statement posted to social media earlier this month, "We are deeply concerned by these attacks on our clinicians and staff fueled by misinformation and a lack of understanding and respect for our transgender community."
Boston Children's is not the only hospital to experience these types of online harassment and threats, according to an NBC News report earlier this year. That report noted social media attacks against other children's hospitals in Omaha, Nebraska and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
According to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, while the LGBTQ+ rights movement found an ally in the Biden administration, there is continued evidence of hate groups mobilizing in 2021 to push anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and ideology in the country.
It is not clear if the recent threats were motivated by such rhetoric or something else entirely.
