“No one should be denied care for being who they are,”—Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force.
WASHINGTON-DC: In response to Health and Human Services announcement January 18 of a Division on Conscience and Religious Liberty, Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force issued the following statement:
We are not fooled: The new office announced this morning is meant to make it easier for people to discriminate, not to protect people of faith. Health professionals have a duty to care for all their patients regardless of one’s gender identity, sexual orientation, faith, creed, race, political views, gender, or disability, and no one should be denied care for being who they are.
The overwhelming majority of people of faith support health care access for women and LGBTQ people. There is no contradiction between meeting your duty to care for all people and living by your moral and religious conviction. All people deserve access to care, including transgender people, those seeking assisted suicide, and those seeking reproductive health services such as an abortion or sterilization.