Beyond ‘I Do’ — Real Equality for LGBTQ Families
Imagine walking into your doctor’s office, wife at your side, newborn infant in your arms, ready for your first well-baby exam. Now imagine that your pediatrician refuses to treat your baby, citing religious objections.
Do you agree with that statement? If you do, I’m not surprised. According to a recent Gallup poll, a large and growing majority of Americans agree that lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be treated equally under the law.
Most Americans seem to assume since same-sex marriage is legal everywhere in the US, that equality is all set for members of gender and sexual minorities. Most Americans hold a nebulous notion that “discrimination” is against the law and that LGBTQ people are secure in their rights to employment, housing, and public accomodation.
Jami and Krista Contrearas, a married couple in Oak Park, Michigan, found out the hard way, according to WXYZ TV.
Three years ago, they brought their six day-old newborn to their regular pediatrician. A different doctor walked into the room and told them, “I’m going to be your doctor. Your doctor prayed on it and decided she won’t see you all today.”
Jami and Krista, mothers of two, say they aren’t new to being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation, but this was the first time discrimination passed down to their children. They assumed the physician who declined to treat their infant was acting illegally or contrary to her professional licensing requirements.
They were shocked to learn that she had violated no laws and was not subject to discipline from either the American Medical Association or state licensing boards. In Michigan, like in 31 other US states, refusing housing, employment, or services to people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity is perfectly legal.
Oak Park is an upscale community in the suburban Detroit area. The family have access to a plethora of physicians who don’t discriminate against lesbian moms.
Well, they’re fine if you don’t consider the humiliation they had to endure. Discrimination is a blow no matter the alternatives. We Americans rejected “Separate but Equal” a long time ago.
Not every family is as fortunate as even that. LGBTQ people who live in rural or isolated areas often have little choice about providers. People with limited incomes also face physician choice challenges. Sometimes discrimination means that people go without care.
Among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) respondents who had visited a doctor or health care provider in the year before the survey:
Among transgender people who had visited a doctor or health care providers’ office in the past year:
Most American don’t know this is going on. Twitter is abuzz with Jami’s and Krista’s story, because they’ve agreed to act as public faces for a national ad campaign to fight against legal discrimination based on sexual orientation:
People who hear their story are outraged. “Put the doctor in jail,” they say. Strip her of her license to practice medicine. She’s violating her Hippocratic Oath. Sadly, it doesn’t work like that. The pediatrician isn’t in trouble with either the law or with her licensing board.
Brad Smith is one gay man who says his health has worsened because his sexual orientation makes accessing professional, quality healthcare difficult. This is what he told me:
His experiences echo those of many other LGBTQ people, putting faces to the data I cited above.
House Democrats re-introduced a bill last month that would modify existing civil rights legislation to ban discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, federal programs, and credit. Across all 50 states and all US territories and possessions.
David Cicilline, D-R.I., the bill’s main sponsor in the House, explains why:
He might also have mentioned that the Act would nail down equal access to health care and medical treatment.
Considering that some states, like Texas, are working to pass legislation to protect physicians’ rights to refuse health care to LGBTQ people, this is no small matter.
Most Americans think discriminating against LGBTQ people is wrong. Large percentages of those same Americans assume discrimination is already against the law. But when you can walk into a pediatrician’s office with a 6-day-old baby and be turned away because you’re a lesbian, something is very, very wrong.
Beyond ‘I Do’ — Real Equality for LGBTQ Families
Research & References of Beyond ‘I Do’ — Real Equality for LGBTQ Families|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments