The following statement is attributable to SAGE CEO Michael Adams:
“Today’s announcement by the Trump administration — allowing healthcare providers to deny LGBTQ+ and especially transgender patients and others critical care in the name of religion — is a horrifying next step in its coordinated effort to allow discrimination on religious grounds. Our federal government is creating a dystopian world in which it places the rights of those who discriminate over the care of people.
This is particularly alarming for older LGBTQ+ people, especially those who are trans, considering that 85 percent of nonprofit long-term care providers in the United States are religiously affiliated, which is highlighted in SAGE’s recent “Dignity Denied: Religious Exemptions and LGBTQ+ Elder Services” report and in our amicus brief in the Masterpiece Cake case.
It is unimaginable for LGBTQ+ elders, at this time in their lives, to be refused the care they need and deserve. Everyone has the freedom, under the first amendment, to practice their religion, but when deep morals or religious convictions overshadow the responsibility to provide care to sick and dying people, it is dangerous for our nation.”
