Gay doctor flees Louisiana due to anti-LGBTQ+ laws: ‘I don’t have a choice’
Gay doctor flees Louisiana due to anti-LGBTQ+ laws: ‘I don’t have a choice’
A gay doctor who is one of Louisiana's only specialist paediatric cardiologists has fled the state due to recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
A gay doctor who is one of Louisiana’s only specialist paediatric cardiologists has left the state after the introduction of a Don’t Say Gay copycat bill and a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.
Jake Kleinmahon, who was one of just three doctors specialising in heart transplants for children in Louisiana, chose to leave the state with his family, as they no longer felt safe.
Kleinmahon met and fell in love with his husband Tom in New Orleans, and the couple expected remain in Louisiana, even after retirement. However, he told CNN that the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation made him and his family feel unwelcome and that he ultimately “didn’t have a choice”.
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Was born premature, and required open heart surgery when I was only a few days old.
When I was around 17 I had the chance to visit the hospital and tour the children's ICU I had been in. A children's ICU is not the happiest place in the world, and there were strange looks from both staff and parents as we walked around, feeling very awkward.
Then a short man with a thick accent burst through the door and hugged me. Turned out, the doctor who had performed my surgery was there and insisted on showing me around personally.
He walked me over to a woman who was about the saddest person I have ever seen, sitting next to an incubator. "This is what your son will look like in 18 years" he told her.
They took my picture, and hung it on the board for the kids who had "graduated", and I have to believe it was the first time in a long time that room had joy and happiness in it.
If someone had told me that that doctor wasn't welcome because he had a husband I think I would have wanted to become violent.
This law means that those families now have 1/3 fewer people to give a chance for thier kids, and the odds for me hadn't been that great to begin with.
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What was the woman’s response to that comment from the doctor? Because that is a one impactful statement! How did it feel to basically be a example for hope to that woman that day?
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She didn't say anything really, just smiled and thanked the doctor.
While I was too young to fully understand it at the time, it still had a big impact on me, and looking back on it now I tear up a bit.
That day is the reason, years later when joining the military, I took an MOS fixing medical equipment. I'm no health care worker, but I'm damned good w tech, and fixing the machines that help fix people always meant a lot to me.
I don't know what happened with either her or her child, but I suspect the doctor knew because he said it with such confidence, I doubt he would have given her false hope.
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Thank you for sharing your story here
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I was a little over 1 years old when I had a heart attack. My mom put me down for a nap and it happened shortly after that. I feel lucky in that I'm 34 and haven't had any major complications, but it does mean I am a little more at risk later on in life.
Either way, this was up in Alaka. There's really not as much up there. The idea of that happening, my mom getting me to the hospital, and then finding out that the person they needed just left a few weeks ago? In a way, I wouldn't know, but I can't imagine my mom going through that.
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So long as the majority left behind in the state are GOP voters, they couldn't care less about how many people get harmed or die from their policies ...
E: spelling
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Part of what makes religion so useful, to suffer becomes virtuous.
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Then I hope they choke on all their virtue.
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I wish them nothing but unyielding neverending virtue
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You aren't wrong. The ideal is always something that if everyone achieved it the civilization would end.
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Personally, I think this is all part of the plan. Chase the lefties out of their states so that they can solidify their majority, keeping themselves in power.
Do this with enough states, and they can kick off a constitutional convention.
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I do wonder if they're doing the same with Twitter and Reddit.
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They don't have the numbers. 19 states have majority Democrat Senate and Houses, and they need 66% of state legislatures to call one. They would only need two more states, but there's several problems with that. For one, not every Republican is on board, and the more moderate ones know how destabilizing it would be for moneyed interests. There's also a great chance it would plunge us into a civil war, and there's no guarantee that ends well for them. I think it's likely to be the opposite.
They're unlikely to even get to that point however because consolidating power in existing red states is actually counterproductive. They ensure a state that they already have will remain theirs, at the expense of chasing people out to other states, including swing states, who will be incredibly angry against their party. Plus, you have Republicans in these states moving to the red states as conservative havens. The net effect, states that aren't solid red are going to get more Democrat voters, and they're already struggling with a dwindling Republican voter base.
Knock on wood I'm right and this isn't just baseless optimism
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Couldn’t…. Care less.
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Fixed it for you 😘
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they could care less about how many people get harmed or die from their policies …
Oh, they care. They prefer the harm and death.
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The cruelty is the point
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TL;DR: a gay pediatric cardiologist (one of only 3 pediatric cardiologists in the state) moved away because Louisiana politicians are predominantly backwards, regressive, homophobic shitstains. Other things too, but those are the characteristics relevant to the article.
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When it's deemed illegal for you to exist, I don't think that's a political viewpoint anymore.
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Yes it is. You're just conditioned to think politics is this inconsequential mental game that has no impact on people's lives.
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There's no need of doctors in the red states, they can just pray the pain away. If they die, well that's God will.
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It's quite unfortunate for those too poor to move or who otherwise have no choice.
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But at this point, what kind of care are they actually going to get if they're too poor to move. They're fucked either way because God forbid we help people in need.
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Works as well as praying for the protection of children at shootings.
Why would they stop with such success?
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The don't call 911, remember? 🔫
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by your logic there's no need for international refugees on blue states either. red states can deal with them. (I'm being ironic here as your logic is as bigoted as theirs and, imho, that's not the way to resolve it)
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Sarcasm 🙄
sär′kăz″əm noun
A cutting, often ironic remark intended to express contempt or ridicule.A form of wit characterized by the use of such remarks.A biting taunt or gibe, or the use of such a taunt; a bitter, cutting expression; a satirical remark or expression, uttered with scorn or contempt; in rhetoric, a form of irony; bitter irony.
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he is an internally displaced refugee. that's what it's come to now with all this. we need to liberate nazi-occupied states
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Let that be done by the EU once Trump decides to leave NATO. (/s of course, no one can ever invade the US, and their decisions are theirs as long as they do not seek conflict with other countries!).
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Even if some children in Louisiana won't be able to get heart transplants, it's okay because these children were already born.
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Good for him. Wish him and his all the best in their new home.
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That fucking sucks he has to run away but also damn if he isn’t probably the hottest doctor in Louisiana…. Well not anymore
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Sucks for Louisiana. Other states could use more hot gay doctors
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In a perfect world, there would be no reason for this to happen, but in a less perfect would- ALL LGBTQ+ people would leave all the red state dictatorships they currently live in- and go to where they’re welcomed with open arms.
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I hope the best for him and his family
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The lawmakers don't care, they can go where they need for care. But many non R voters will leave cementing R control of the state for years to come -- it's a genius plan really.
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It is a major part of the GOP strategy.
Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri has openly acknowledged that the GOP strategy is to make it so miserable for Democrats in red and purple states that they will move to blue states. That would, in turn, cement Republican power in the White House, Senate and thereby the Supreme Court.
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Oh wow, I didn't know it had been made so explicit.
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Wouldn't it have the opposite effect? The majority of states which are doing this are deep red states, and someone who flees is unlikely to move into another one. There aren't a lot of swing states though where Republicans can enact this sort of legislation. Arizona's got a Dem governor for instance, and Wisconsin a Dem supreme court. The only places they're going to be able to unleash their horrible agenda are places where they have governorship, legislature, and supreme court, and that isn't typically the case in swing states.
I think the net effect actually fucks Republicans. They don't need more voters in red states, they need more voters in swing states. And they're going to be sending some pissed off Democrats to those states. Margins are tight in swing states, and currently the GOP voter base is dying of old age while more young people turn 18 each day.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I really hope I'm not.
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I usually say they deserve the repercussions of their terrible values. When it affects innocent kids, it makes me sad.
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Sadly, it is very often the people at the bottom who deal with shit-stain policies like this.
this and policies like anti-abortion policies rarely affect rich or middle-class people, who have money.
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Why would you have that rapist's baby if you can afford to travel to another state, stay in a hotel, and pay for the procedure, without having to give up that nice vacation you've got planned, cover the costs of your children's private school, and trade up your car at the end of the lease next month?
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This is the intended outcome of their actions. They'd rather get rid of useful things than allow a society that says it's fine for people to be who they are, because the overall purpose is to make people suffer.
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The article doesn't do a good job explaining the "Don't Say Gay" bill. The bill prohibits teachers from teaching about sexual orientation before 4th grade.
Here is an article about that:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/florida-don-t-say-gay-bill-desantis-1.6400087
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Close, it's you can't even say gay people or kids exist
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No, what it actually says is: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/PDF
To quote from the bill:
- Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.
As far as I can tell, the term "classroom instruction" in Florida law means a course designed to be presented to a group of students by a live instructor using lecture, video, webcast, or virtual or other audio-video presentation. There isn't a separate definition given in the "Don't Say Gay" law, and at a glance I couldn't find another definition used in Florida other than the one I just gave, though there might be elsewhere in Florida law, since precise definitions are often central to what exactly is permitted.
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Where did you read that?
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I have two words you need to take time to parse: "Chilling Effect." EDIT: It appears you think the bill is bigoted, based on comments elsewhere. You directing people to the language of the bill like the text speaks for itself is usually something that proponents of the legislation do, hence my confusion as to your rhetorical point.
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Wasn't the bill extended to all grades?
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That's might have been in Florida, not Louisiana, but it wouldn't surprise me if this happens.
Just like the anti-gender affirming treatment bills that were supposedly only for minors because "we've got to stop kids from making decisions they'll regret." Later, of course, some right wing areas extended those bans to adults, dropping the "protect the children" mask that we were all able to see past anyway.
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I never read about that extension, so I'd need a source.
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You mean the anti-grooming bill?
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Flees Louisiana makes it sound like he was chased out by a lunch mob. This is grandstanding. Gender affirming 'care' for children should be banned.
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Ok my typo was hilarious, but my point isn't.
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Your point is hilariously stupid though.
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HB 648 would effectively ban physically reversible puberty blockers from trans youth by threatening the removal of the medical licences of those who prescribe them, as well as leaving them open to potential lawsuits.
Was this doctor one of the people who prescribe these blockers to teenagers? Is that the actual reason he couldn't work as a doctor in Louisiana anymore? If so, sounds like the law worked as they intended.
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He's a cardiologist, so no. I'd say it's the unhinged antiquated homophobia that did it
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What a coward for running away
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What a display of bravery saying this behind your keyboard on an anonymous platform.
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Annnnd that's a block
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What would you do on his position? If you stay in a state which you and your family aren't protected by?
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We can't all be heroes like you.
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