A whistleblower has come forward to reveal that a trans-identified male was allowed on an all-female addictions rehabilitation unit at Massachusetts’ Behavioral Health Network (BHN), leading to the sexual and physical harassment of female patients.
John*, a veteran of the Marine Corps, is a rehabilitative specialist who worked at BHN for just over one year beginning in June of 2023, and worked with patients on multiple units within the BHN care center. One, known as New View, was an all-female unit intended for women under Massachusetts’ Section 35 – a mandatory rehabilitation order.
“You can [admit] yourself, but usually a spouse or family member goes to the courthouse and tries to section you. You have to be ‘a danger to yourself or others’ and a judge makes the final decision,” John explains, adding that even he didn’t feel comfortable being assigned to the unit due to concerns for the dignity of the women there.
“I used to tell leadership at all time – some women were not comfortable with me doing checks at night. I had to argue that they had the right to female-only checks… that if they didn’t want males in their room doing checks, they had that right,” John says. “You can imagine how bewildering it was for me to be arguing this point with my leftist female leadership – especially my direct supervisor – who would more or less tell me that they don’t have that right and I need to do anyway. Absolutely nuts.”
In August of 2023, John says a new intake of women onto the unit included one “obvious” male who will be referred to as Kelly*.
“Immediately clocked within two seconds of seeing him. Like there was no hiding that male face that went through male puberty, although the synthetic estrogen did reduce facial hair growth to a degree. I remember he often had a mild yet visible stubble going on,” John recalls.
Reduxx has identified Kelly and reviewed photos of him which confirm his large stature and overtly masculine presentation. On social media accounts belonging to Kelly, he has posted suggestive photos of himself in dresses, fishnet stockings, and thong panties visible through torn pants.
Kelly was a multi-substance addict who John described as having erratic and “jumpy” behavior.
“It was almost like…extreme pent up male sexual frustration mixed with withdrawals and the stress of treatment on top of clinical anxiety and whatever other psychiatric diagnoses he had,” John says.
Shortly after arriving, BHN staff became aware of multiple incidents involving Kelly sexually and physically harassing women on the unit. John provided Reduxx with an email chain showing internal BHN communications on Kelly’s inappropriate behavior towards female patients.
“It was reported to me by a client that they overheard [Kelly] making inappropriate sexual comments to [Jennifer],” one of the counselors wrote in the email. “I brought [Jennifer] into the office to ask her if anyone has been causing an issue or making her feel uncomfortable. She was hesitant to say at first but then said it seems like you already know. I told her I needed to hear it from her. She then told me that [Kelly] has been making inappropriate comments and that is why she has been staying in her room.”
The counselor added that Kelly had asked Jennifer to meet him in the single-stall bathroom “alone.”
In response to the counselor, the BHN supervisor responded with an acknowledgment of the issue and added that the issues were not just isolated to Kelly’s behavior towards Jennifer, but that Kelly had also been “aggressive sexually and physically” with multiple other female patients, naming one Kelly had “punched in the arm” and another whom Kelly had told had a “fat ass.”
John says that Kelly was allowed to complete his treatment in the female-only unit, something he says upset him tremendously.
“If a non-transgender male did what he did at a co-ed facility, it might even be grounds for getting law enforcement involved. But Kelly… he was allowed to stay so he could get a completion. Can you imagine how the women must’ve felt?”
Both Kelly and Jennifer were discharged some time later. Near the end of September, Jennifer passed away from an overdose.
“One of the last experiences of this young woman’s life was being sexually harassed on an all-female unit by a man who shouldn’t have been there,” John recounts sadly.
“The risk of allowing any males onto an all female unit is too much. Most of these women were on and off the streets, had to resort to sex work, and a decent amount of them, I hesitate to give you an exact percentage, had sexual assault trauma. It is completely unfair to them to be forced into treatment with males against their will. They should have the right to opt into all-female treatment,” he continues.
Kelly was not the only trans-identified male who was allowed into the women’s unit at BHN, with another coming in October. Around that time, John says he began to clash with management over their deferral to gender self-identification.
“My supervisor, Jess Hughes, tried to tell me one male patient was ‘female’ because he was on synthetic estrogen. I was not having that,” John says.
In February of 2024, John says he became aware that an investigation had been opened into his personal social media accounts where he had made comments critical of gender ideology and of males participating in women’s sports.
Following the results of the investigation, John was issued a Corrective Action Form accusing him of using his social media to “[seek] out trans people and feminine-presenting queer men to invalidate and mentally harm them.” The form ordered John to scrub his social media profiles of any reference to his work with BHN, and to complete a social justice-oriented course.
John says it was around this time that he began to receive intensely negative treatment from his supervisor.
“When word spread that I was this ‘evil transphobic bigot,’ it was over. I had no chance. I was completely stigmatized,” he explains. “I resigned in July when it became very apparent I was not going to transfer units or move up in the organization.”
Despite the negative experience, John says he is unconcerned about his future in the profession and has had no trouble finding work following his resignation from BHN.
“I have the patient and superior references that will always vouch for my work and the positive impact I always have on patients in clients. Almost all my prior coworkers really liked and appreciated me. I’m confident in saying that too. I have been recruited by several employers since.”
John says the incident at BHN “took a toll” on him, but that he remains firm in his belief that males should not be permitted into women-only spaces, especially those where the women involved are unable to consent to their presence.
“I don’t hate the trans community. I just don’t accept the metaphysical belief that human males can be women and human females can be men. Because they objectively cannot,” John says. “But every woman that steps into [BHN] either voluntarily or sectioned, needs to be notified there will potentially be male patients on the unit. Then they can either consent to being treated there or not.”
Reduxx reached out to BHN for comment on their gender self-identification policy, but did not receive a response in time for publication. This article will be updated in the event a response is provided.