Catholic groups sue over Obama administration transgender requirement

[trotsky]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/12/29/catholic-groups-sue-over-obama-administration-transgender-requirement/

An organization of Catholic businesses is suing the Obama administration over a federal rule they say will force Catholic hospitals and doctors to perform gender reassignment services against their faith.

The Catholic Benefits Association filed the lawsuit Wednesday in North Dakota District Court along with the Catholic Diocese of Fargo. In a statement, the groups called the rule part of a “multi-agency effort to redefine the term ‘sex’ in federal anti-discrimination laws.”

The lawsuit concerns a rule that went into effect in July clarifying an anti-bias provision of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. The health law prohibits discrimination in certain health programs that receive federal funding. While it does not explicitly apply to transgender people, the rule issued by the Health and Human Services Department specifies that it considers discrimination on the basis of gender identity a form of sex discrimination, as other agencies and many courts have done.

...

“What the rule says is if you provide a particular service to anybody, you can’t refuse to provide it to anyone,” said Sarah Warbelow, the legal director for the Human Rights Campaign. That means a transgender person who shows up at an emergency room with something as basic as a twisted ankle cannot be denied care, as sometimes happens, Warbelow said. That also means if a doctor provides breast reconstruction surgery or hormone therapy, those services cannot be denied to transgender patients seeking them for gender dysphoria, she said.

These Catholic groups continue to fight for their religious "right" to hate and discriminate.

Oh yeah, and some atheists kicked a guy out of their group because he was attacking Hillary Clinton and defending Trump with bogus right-wing conspiracy nonsense.

So it's pretty much the same, ya see?

[1965Comet]

1. A question about this one

Could a doctor (who did not want to work on trans gendered patients for whatever reason) make the case that female-style hormone therapy (estrogen, I guess?), as applied to someone who was originally a male, would require more specialization in such therapies that is not required if giving such therapy to a woman?

What I mean is, is there a non-religious way the hospitals or doctors could get away with not doing hormone therapy for trans persons when that therapy is part of a gender conversion?

[trotsky]

2. No, I don't think they could claim that.

But in this blurb you see how they are trying to create that defense:

“Catholic hospitals provide compassionate care to everyone, regardless of status. Patients experiencing gender dysphoria deserve no less,” said Wilson, whose group includes 880 Catholic hospitals, colleges and businesses. “The prime ethic of any healthcare provider is do no harm. These regulations do the opposite.”

This is the classic statement of fake tolerance. The old "love the sinner, hate the sin" nonsense. If they can argue that it is "harmful" to provide hormone therapy or surgical procedures, then their position doesn't seem quite as bigoted.

[1965Comet]

3. I agree about arguing "harm"

Since in this case it is just another form of the religion argument (our religion says its harmful, therefore it is harmful).

My question is really about non-religious arguments concerning the specialization of doctors. I am not a doctor and have no idea whether or how far one must specialize in order to do hormone therapy.

[trotsky]

4. Yeah that's a good question.

I'm no doctor either. I would think the situation for a trans woman would be similar to that of a woman who had to have her reproductive organs removed, but what do I know?

[Iggo]

5. "...if you provide a particular service to anybody, you can't refuse to provide it to anyone."

What gender reassignment services do they perform for any given person that they fear they would then be required to provide for certain others?

[trotsky]

6. The main concern I think is with things like HRT.

Those meds are crucial for well-being, not just for trans patients but also cis ones who have lost their sex organs or otherwise aren't making the hormones themselves.

But also the ability to deny someone care for any other health services.