recipient: Hospitals, healthcare providers, and insurance companies
In the midst of the worst health crisis in a century, the administration of Donald Trump has invited providers to discriminate against— and even refuse healthcare to — transgender Americans.
Specifically, Trump reversed the Obama administration's 2016 rule clarifying that nondiscrimination protections regarding "sex" in healthcare encompassed gender identity, opening the door to a new wave of dangerous discrimination against the trans community. Make no mistake, if hospitals, healthcare providers accept Trump's invitation to discriminate, people will die.
Already, LGBTQ people experience disproportionately high discrimination in healthcare settings, and to welcome more in the midst of a pandemic is almost too cruel to be believed. But as Lambda Legal's Sasha Buechert pointed out, Trump's move "serves no other purpose than to target and discriminate against LGBTQ people. The cruelty is the point."
And that's why we are calling on every healthcare providers to ignore Trump's hateful decry and treat every patient as equal.
Medical professionals have an obligation to provide care for all in need, and refusing to do so would be an immoral abdication of the hippocratic oath. If that isn't enough to convince healthcare providers to do what is right, maybe public opinion will be. While Trump has the support of only about 40% of the country, more than seven in ten Americans favor legal protections for the LGBTQ community.
There are no winners when it comes to discrimination. That's why we're calling on healthcare providers to do the right thing where the president has failed.
Add your name to demand healthcare providers reject Trump's invitation to discriminate against the trans community and treat all patients equally! It will save lives.