(Photo: Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean)
In response to today’s U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule change that attempts to roll back anti-discrimination protections in health care, particularly of LGBTQ people under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean released the following statement:
“Access to healthcare is a basic human right.
“Today’s announcement is part of the Trump Administration’s ongoing war on that notion, a continued attack on equality and fairness. That our nation’s government would seek to restrict access to care during a worldwide pandemic is yet another dangerous example of this inhuman assault on human rights. Alarmingly, this rule allows health care providers to deny medical care to LGBTQ people, including testing and treatment for COVID-19.
“Moreover, the announcement comes during a week when two more transgender women were brutally murdered and on the fourth anniversary of the Pulse massacre in Orlando. It is obscene that senior HHS official Roger Severino‘s statement announcing the new policy included the words, ‘HHS respects the dignity of every human being.’ The truth is, the Trump Administration has been working for more than three years to systematically disrespect, dehumanize, and stigmatize some of society’s most vulnerable people. With all people of good conscience, we will strenuously oppose and actively fight this decision.”
