5 Laws, Many Questions: When we Legislate in Opposition to Professional Standards
This is a repost of an article I published on LinkedIn on February 24, 2022, regarding the proposition of anti-LGBTQ+ laws that have consequences for certian professions.
You can view (and like/comment on) the original article HERE.
I came across an article this weekend, and I Have Questions (IHQ). Here it goes:
The LGBTQ+ Magazine Them published an article calling out states who have proposed anti-LGBTQ+ bills so far in 2022. Trigger Warning: the proposed legislation(s) in question regulates the rights of minors (and therefore, too, the adults in their lives). This is the article.
I read the bills in question, thinking from a business and professional mindset. The ones listed below are just 5 of the over 30 bills that have been introduced in State legislatures so far this year.
The Bills:
1) Alabama SB184 - affecting healthcare benefits included for gender affirming care, AL seeks to block these treatments and classifies these treatments as a Class C Felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The law only refers to individuals classified in the binary structure, and does not include safety provision for those who are born intersex.
2) Oklahoma HB3240 (original text) - also affecting healthcare benefits included for gender affirming care, AL seeks to block these treatments and classifies these treatments, specifically calling out both those with and without insurance.
3) Arizona SB1045 (original text) - would require any school official (counselor, nurse, etc.) to report a child who has disclosed that they think they might be transgender or agender to their parents. From reading the proposed bill, this requirement would stand even if that child has disclosed other aspects of their homelife indicating abuse or physical danger, including fear of potential retaliation/abuse/homeless that would result by disclosing their orientation to their household.
4) Arizona SB2293 - this bill explicitly forbids students from clarifying their pronouns to administrators. Any teachers, counselors, administrators, etc. will now be restricted to using the pronoun that is included on the student's birth certificate.
5) South Carolina H4555 - this bill would, among other items, allow parents to opt their children out of health education related to HIV/AIDS.
I Have Questions.
Questions for doctors, mental health providers, nurses, physicians, etc.: Bills #1 & 2 listed above attempts to restrict treatments that a doctor may deem medically necessary, and that the medical field has determined are safe when administered properly. How could a Physician handle a situation where a medical treatment was declared illegal? How do you deal with this apparent encroachment into your professional judgement? It seems the equivalence of a legislator deciding which materials I should and should not use on a bridge, despite what the ASCE, ACI, ASTM, and other industry sources recommend as best practice.
Questions for Human Resources and Health Insurance providers: If legislation suddenly excludes covered benefits during a plan year, how are adjustments made to the plans themselves? Are company and employee premiums reimbursed according to a schedule for loss of service? I realize the treatments listed above may not affect a large percentage of the population, but what if it did? What if this extended to something more common, such as removing coverage for anesthesia for surgery? Further, if lack of HIV education is allowed to continue, and the number of positive tests continue to rise for our how will companies have to deal with the rising costs of healthcare? HIV/AIDS currently requires lifelong treatment, so from First Day to Retirement, this now becomes part of employee costs. This isn't just an LGBTQ+ issue - 53% of those living with HIV today are women and girls.
Questions for social workers, teachers, mental healthcare professionals, and those who work directly with minors: Research shows that "Usage of chosen name resulted in a 29% decrease in suicidal ideation and a 56% decrease in suicidal behavior." Also, 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ+ children who were kicked out of their homes as a direct result of coming out of the closet [1] [2] [3]. It appears that the proposed legislation in item #3 above could put a student in the direct path of harm, and that #4 above could force adults and professionals to put children at increased risk of suicide. How would you manage dealing with a law that could put children at increased risk of suicidal ideation and/or suicidal behavior?
Question for Public Health agencies and educators: Item #5 is potentially dangerous to children as the highest rates of HIV/AIDS transmission occurs immediately after those children leave High School, in ages 25-29 nationally and 20-24 in South Carolina (Figure 2.07, page 28). Therefore children may be at additional risk of unintended transmission unless objective disease and preventative treatment education is provided at home. How can public health officials continue to reach the public and prevent needless transmission of disease if people can remove education as the first line of prevention? How drastic is the effect of non-education on disease spread? (non-Covid examples for sanity, please).
Support Children who could be affected by these proposed laws:
If you are the parent of a child, or have a child in your life who could no longer legally be receiving education and/or treatment regarding LGBTQ+ issues, please review the Trevor Project's* website. If you have a child in your life that may need support with Trans and Non-Binary identities, please review the guide to being an ally to Trans and Non-Binary Youth.
*About the Trevor Project: "The project was founded in 1998[1] in West Hollywood, California, by Celeste Lecesne, Peggy Rajski, and Randy Stone. They are the creators of the 1994 Academy Award–winning short film Trevor, a dramedy about Trevor, a gay thirteen-year-old boy who, when rejected by friends because of his sexuality, makes an attempt to take his life. When the film was scheduled to air on HBO television in 1998, the filmmakers realized that some of the program's young viewers might be facing the same kind of crisis as Trevor, and began to search for a support line to be broadcast during the airing. They discovered that no such helpline existed, and decided to dedicate themselves to forming the resource: an organization to promote acceptance of LGBTQ youth, and to aid in crisis and suicide prevention among that group." (from Wikipedia)