Missouri AG Removes Trans Health Care Tip Line After 'Hack'

The tip line for reporting "questionable" gender transition interventions stayed online for about a month before LGBTQ+ allies started flooding it with false complaints

Apr 21, 2023 at 3:06 pm
click to enlarge Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's office removed an online tip line for reporting transgender health care concerns after detractors flooded the tip line with false reports.

In a statement to the Riverfront Times, a spokesperson for Bailey's office said the online portal was "temporarily down" as the office investigates a potential "hack" into its system.

"Far left activists are trying to impede parents' ability to shed light on what happened to their children," Madeline Sieren, the AG's spokesperson, wrote in an email. "Rather than standing on their supposed science to back up their facts, they're resorting to trying to hack our system to silence victims of the exact network we're attempting to expose."

Sieren did not immediately respond when asked to clarify what "hack our system" meant, or whether the attorney general's website had been compromised.

"In order to ensure the integrity of a government website, the page is temporarily down while we investigate these matters," Sieren continued. "We will not back down in the fight to protect children."
Bailey's office launched the tip line "in an effort to protect our children" after a whistleblower wrote a blistering critique of Washington University's Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Jamie Reed, a former case manager at the center, alleged health care providers there recklessly provided gender-affirming care to minor patients.

Bailey's office later launched an investigation into the center. And last week, Bailey issued an emergency rule that will remove most Missourians' access to gender-affirming care starting next Thursday.

Victims or their parents were encouraged to reach out to the attorney general's office through the tip line if they had information on "illegal or abusive behavior" related to gender transition procedures.

The tip line remained online for about a month. It more recently became a subject of national news articles and viral Tweets critical of its intent.

Screenshots shared on social media show people wrote outlandish complaints under false names to "fuck up" Bailey's reporting tool.

"I was walking down the street and accidentally called someone 'them,'" Twitter user Goblin Riley wrote under the name "Leroy Jenkins." "A tractor beam picked me RIGHT UP off the sidewalk and 'trans'ported me to Planned Parenthood where they STOLE MY SKIN to give it to a trans person. I mean literally the audacity."

"giggity-giggity, this is wrong and immoral, giggity-giggity," Xethos wrote under the name "Peter Griffin."

"Just reported my dog for being unladylike," Twitter user Chris Graham wrote.

Really, Bailey should have seen this coming.

We compiled some more responses below:

Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter