Sunday Sermonette: The Liberal Medical Menace!
I’m a liberal. I live in liberal Massachusetts. But even the most liberal state has its discontents.
Take this shocking, SHOCKING I TELL YOU!, little story from an organization called MassResistance last week:
Medical madness: Your doctor’s office may require you to list your “current gender identity” and “sexual orientation” before getting treatment.
It’s happening now in Massachusetts - and probably other places.
And they want “social justice” information about you that has nothing to do with medicine.
The article is unsigned. The only person identified on MassResistance’s website is Brian Camenker, a rabid homophobe who has been fighting a losing battle to demonize LGBT people for over twenty-five years now.
Apparently some doctors have started asking about a patient’s gender identity and sexual orientation. The “Pro-Family” hate group seems to think this is the thin edge of some devious gay agenda to change health care.
Welcome to the Brave New World of politicized medicine: incorporating the anti-science, radical LGBT agenda into health care. It’s coming to a doctor’s office and hospital near you. It has been marching through the medical profession for well over a decade. Like the rest of left-wing ideology, LGBT doctrine allows no disagreement. The movement is brutal toward those who disagree with its clearly anti-scientific mandates.
Um, Brian, neither gender identity nor sexual orientation can be detected by a medical test, but they are vital to the provision of health care. More doctors need to do this.
I love my doctor, he’s a great guy, but despite his efforts to provide holistic care he’s never asked about my sexual orientation, my gender identity, or my sex life in general. No biggie for me: I identify as male, and though bisexual I’ve been happily and monogamously married to the Unindicted Co-Conspirator for two-thirds of my adult life.
I’m diabetic and have some issues with neuropathy. My annual tests involve checking for complications: liver and kidney function, blood sugar, lipids, checking my feet for wounds, and so forth. If I were also having sex with men, there would doubtless be other things he’d want to test for, like HIV, STIs, and so forth. It would be crazy for me not to be open and honest with my primary care physician.
But I’m bi and married. If I were having affairs on the down low, I might feel too ashamed or guilty to volunteer this fact to my doctor. Don’t ask, don’t tell can be hazardous not only to my health, but to my partner’s as well.
Other things my physician needs to know are my religion, whether I have advance care plans like a healthcare proxy, my living situation, whether I feel safe at home, what OTC or herbal remedies I take, what activities I enjoy, how well I sleep, whether I smoke or drink, and what major stresses or changes have happened in my life since my last visit, like bereavement, loss of employment, or divorce.
All of these things should be part of your healthcare record. They have nothing to do with a liberal social agenda, they’re fundamental aspects of your overall health. Confidentiality is also fundamental; you’re protected by HIPAA.
But to Camenker, anything that legitimizes LGBTQ people is an evil liberal plot to destroy America.
It's not that MassResistance is uninvolved with healthcare. They publish a reprehensible book titled The Health Hazards of Homosexuality: What the Medical and Psychological Research Reveals. It is a hateful homophobic farrago of malicious misinformation, littered with scare quotes, all in service of the overriding message that queer people are a public health menace.
Last Saturday was the 48th annual Pride march in Boston. It was the largest yet, with over 430 groups represented and hundreds of thousands of happy people participating. My youngest niece, a high-schooler, attended with a friend, both sporting “Best Bi” t-shirts. I'm proud of her.
The Southern Poverty Law Center identifies MassResistance as an anti-gay hate group. This makes Brian Camenker very angry. Perhaps he should see a doctor. Stress and high blood pressure can be very hazardous to your health.