A subreddit focusing on transgender surgeries briefly disappeared on Wednesday, sparking panic among Reddit users.
Why It Matters
The LGBTQ+ community, especially transgenders, has been targeted by President Donald Trump's administration these past two weeks. During his first day in office late last month, Trump signed an executive order that said his administration would use "clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male."
Trump later signed another executive order directing federal government health insurance such as Medicaid to exclude coverage for gender-affirming care, including surgery, puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for those under 19 years old. Most recently, Trump signed an order on Wednesday banning transgender women from competing in women's sports, and if schools don't comply, their federal funding could be cut.
What To Know
People part of a subreddit titled "r/Transgender_Surgeries" had a scare Wednesday after their community briefly disappeared. The subreddit was quickly brought back online and its moderator said it was "due to a bug."
One Reddit user said in reaction to the disappearance of "r/Transgender_Surgeries": "Y'all, I was legitimately scared for you when I saw it in the shutdown this morning. This sub was a hugely helpful resource for me when I was recovering from my surgery last spring, and I was horrified at the possibility that resource was just gone for people."
"Wow, that was a scare! I saw the ban 20 minutes ago, and just saw it was restored," another user wrote.
A third user said: "My wife just resolved on bottom surgery yesterday, when I saw this was down I felt terrified. If I knew how to make a backup to keep locally, I would."
The subreddit's moderator explained to the community that the subreddit was down due to a bug and shared a link to a subreddit titled, "r/ModSupport" with a post at the top that read: "This is the second time a wave of bans have been issued all over Reddit. Communities being actively moderated are banned for being unmoderated."
"A ton of subs were banned in the past 24 hours. Don't panic just yet," a moderator of the "r/trans," another subreddit for the transgender community, wrote.
The moderator of the "r/Transgender_Surgeries" clarified that the subreddit is "definitely not unmoderated. It seems to be a bug of some kind. There's others complaining about the same thing on other subs," in a post on another subreddit dedicated to transgender issues."
An administrator posted in the "r/ModSupport" subreddit: "Hi folks. We are looking into this at the moment. We will come back with an update as soon as we have one. Appreciate the patience. Thanks. EDIT: this was due to a bug and these bans have been reversed. Appreciate the patience."
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on January 28 when announcing his executive order on gender-affirming care: "Today, it was my great honor to sign an Executive Order banning the chemical castration and medical mutilation of innocent children in the United States of America."
He added: "My Order directs Agencies to use every available means to cut off Federal financial participation in institutions which seek to provide these barbaric medical procedures, that should have never been allowed to take place!"
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in an Associated Press article late last month: "It is deeply unfair to play politics with people's lives and strip transgender young people, their families and their providers of the freedom to make necessary health care decisions."
What Happens Next
People part of the "r/Transgender_Surgeries" suggested not only relying on the one subreddit in the future.
"Is there any way we can archive the sub and its threads in its current state? Furthermore, offshore backup forums should be made ASAP. We cannot trust anything that is based in the US anymore with this administration," one Reddit user wrote on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, transgender young adults and families with transgender youth have sued the Trump administration over the president's executive order on gender-affirming care.
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