Since 2022, there has been a cultural change in the US and UK that has made gender-affirming care increasingly difficult to access, and in many cases, resulted in people’s existing healthcare being terminated for non-clinical reasons.
Against this backdrop, HRT Café was a lifeline for many people – until it was closed down, not for any legal or medical reason, but due to intimidation by a US-based hate group which left the café’s admins too afraid to continue.
What was HRT Café?
HRT Café was a website run by trans people which provided useful – some might say lifesaving – advice on how to access gender-affirming care, when the alternative channels that people should have access to have failed.
There was advice on medication and dosing, written by people who had lived experience of using these meds. In my view, this advice could often be superior to that given by gender clinics, which tended to follow the clinics’ own ideas – and continue to do so, irrespective of the actual needs of their patients.
There was also a list of (mostly offshore) pharmacies where people could buy hormones without a prescription – so-called “grey imports.”
For some people, this was invaluable because they had nowhere else to go.
HRT Café did not sell or make any form of medicine. It was purely a website that provided information to people who needed it.
Hate group threatens to set US government agencies on HRT Café
On 10 March 2026, a group calling themselves “Do No Harm” published a report titled, “The lack of barriers to minors ordering cross-sex hormones online.”
Do No Harm have been designated by the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Centre) as an anti-LGBT hate group. They are opposed to DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) in hiring medical staff because they claim it is racist towards white people, and they routinely engage in hit pieces targeting organisations that they disagree with.
The group, which was formed in 2022 to “shield patients and physicians from woke healthcare,” is also behind anti-trans legislation in a number of US states.
While this report makes the kind of false or dubious claims about trans healthcare that we might expect from a hate group, its main thrust is a public call for the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to work with their Department of Justice to take action against overseas websites which sell medicines.
The report is disingenuous in a lot of ways, not only in terms of the “child endangerment” angle that groups like this love so much. For example, the FDA only have jurisdiction over the US and their powers do not extend to other countries.
We speak to HRT Café about these events
After the website went down, we contacted HRT Café and were able to speak to an admin who did not wish to give their name and who came across as terrified.
They said,
“Several conservative outlets have directly brought attention to me and asked the FDA to investigate the site, despite it just being a list of links.”
When we mentioned having filed an FOI (Freedom of Information) request with the FDA to find out if any investigation were taking place, the admin misunderstood – believing we were asking them to do this themselves – and expressed concern that such an action would “bring [them] more attention.”
Sadly, we were not able to speak to them further.
The FDA knew nothing about HRT Café
While the FDA is a US entity, it is open to FOI requests internationally. This works slightly differently to the UK system, as requests must specifically ask for “records”. The following was submitted on 16 March 2026:
“Further to claims in the media that a report has been made to the FDA concerning the former
HRT Café website (link to report) – I am seeking any records concerning inspection or
proposed inspection of the former HRT Café website http://hrtcafe.net or the people associated
with it.”
On 4 June 2026, we received a reply:
“This response from the US Food & Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) concerns your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, referenced above, for any records concerning inspection or proposed inspection of the former HRT Café website http://hrtcafe.net or the people associated with it.
After a diligent search of CDER’s files, we did not locate any investigation. Consequently, CDER has no records to provide.”
Would these websites sell to minors anyway?
Child protection is Do No Harm’s primary focus. Yet, their report is misleading. They state there is no statistical evidence of positive outcomes from gender-affirming care, ignoring research by Cornell and Stanford Universities, and the JAMA Network. Bizarrely, almost all of page six is about unrelated medicines, and they cite contamination in specific batches of drugs as “proof” that the drugs themselves are harmful.
We also took a look at some of the websites the report mentions as sellers of drugs to children. There were very few payment methods accepted for a first order – either bank transfer or cryptocurrency. Using either of those would trip our bank’s security, though other banks do allow it. But the Do No Harm report fails to mention that, under US federal law, under-18s are not allowed to have their own bank accounts.
Even assuming they had the outlay, making a transaction like this from an account co-owned by a parent would likely be challenging. There are some exceptions which apply to some banks in certain states, but these only affect people aged 15 and over.
In short, it seems likely that it would be a lot more difficult for a minor to place an order than this report would have us believe.
What did Do No Harm have to say?
When we received confirmation from the FDA that they knew nothing about HRT Café, we contacted Do No Harm via the media enquiries page on their website, but did not receive a reply.
A follow-up was sent by email to inform them again about the FDA’s response and to ask if they had any comment on how difficult it would be for minors to place an order for medication and pay by bank transfer.
At the time of publication, we had not received a reply.
Where do we go from here?
Once again, lies about transgender people and their healthcare have resulted in a hate group getting what they want. On this occasion, we have been able to set the record straight, but the damage has been done.
There was never an FDA investigation into HRT Café, but the perception of one was enough and the website is gone.
However, there may be another way to provide the same information without being so exposed.
Tor, the free VPN (virtual private network), provides Tor Onion Services, which gives a website a .onion address, while hiding the host’s IP address and physical location.
This wouldn’t stop the threats, but it would make the website owners feel a lot safer, which is the real issue here. All that is needed is for someone to set it up.
Also, for anyone needing the online pharmacy info from HRT Café, an extract still exists – ironically, as a screencap in Do No Harm’s own report.
Editor’s note
After several attempts, Yorkshire Bylines was able to contact Do No Harm for comment. Their chief medical officer disputed the article’s characterisation of the organisation’s work and defended their action against online providers of hormones. He argued that US federal authorities have powers to act where overseas sellers unlawfully supply drugs to US customers, and that there is growing consensus that such interventions are insufficiently supported by evidence.
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