SW News: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a bill on Wednesday that would prohibit federally supported hospitals and government organizations from requiring staff members to participate in activities that promote radical gender ideology.
He said the progressive Left's infiltration of the American healthcare system and the resulting degradation of patient care is very alarming.
Rubio stated, "I am presenting the Protecting Conscience in Healthcare Act to stop this damaging, radical gender ideology in American hospitals and healthcare institutions.”
Senators J D Vance (R-OH), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) are cosponsors of the bill.
In his news release on the proposal, Rubio cited a recent piece from the Washington Free Beacon that revealed coordination between more than 2,200 health systems in the US and the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ political lobbying group in the country.
The Healthcare Equality Index, developed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), rates hospitals based on their policies and practices related to the equity and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors, and employees, according to the HRC website.
The 2022 index, according to a May article in The Free Beacon, was funded by Pfizer and PhRMA, a trade association for the pharmaceutical industry. The index ranks hospital systems on criteria such as conducting HRC-approved LGBTQ-focused training for staff if the hospitals display symbols supporting the gay, lesbian, and Trans community, or use patients’ preferred pronouns.
Dozens of children’s hospitals also use the index, with the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, receiving 2022’s highest score.
"To earn a high score on the HRC’s index, hospitals must conduct training that advocates radical gender ideology, display pro-LGBTQ symbols, force employees to use patients’ preferred pronouns, and use the same treatments for gender dysphoria that they use for other medical conditions, such as precocious puberty. Furthermore, the index penalizes hospitals for allowing religious and medical conscience exemptions, calling these discriminatory treatments," Rubio's office said in the press release.