Transgender people still face barriers to competent health care
According to a US Trans Survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality, a third of trans people face discrimination from their healthcare providers.
Employees of the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health are being told to use legal names in their official systems. This says the agency responds to President Donald Trump’s executive order, which overturned protections for transgender people.
The policy affects transgender employees who use names that match their gender identity, rather than gender assigned at birth. However, this policy can affect married women who choose to go to the maiden name at work, or who shorten their middle name, initials, or first name from James to Jim.
FDA and NIH policies exceed the January directive from the Human Resources Administration that ordered agencies to purge contracts and content related to gender identity and turn off the functionality of their email platform. Both agencies are part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Media representatives from the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the NIH did not respond to USA Today’s request for comment. The FDA website provides media enquiries to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The notes came from the FDA and NIH.
A March 14 memo to FDA employees obtained by USA Today stated that the Ministry of Health and the Department of Human Services policies only allow employees to use “full legal names” in email signatures, and not use what the pronoun or agent calls “nicknames.”
The memo responded to President Donald Trump’s January 20 executive order, which he said would be called “protecting women from gender ideological extremism and restoring biological truths to the federal government.” The order declared that the government only recognized two genders (male and female) that it would be determined at conception.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Gastrointestinal Diseases and Kidney Diseases told employees on March 13 that employees will remove the “nickname” from their email signatures until the end of the day, and only use the “full legal name.” The memo cited guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services.
NIH sent a similar memo on March 21, announcing that government agencies are removing “priority name” information in their internal contact system in order to comply with the Health and Human Service Policy regarding the “Nickname” and the “Advocacy of Women” executive order.
The email also warned against employees changing legal names within the system. “Note that changing the legal name of (database) triggers a new background check and a new HHS badge request.”
How policy affects transgender workers
“We’re a great leader in LGBT policymaking,” said Adrian Shanker, former deputy director of health and humankind, who is a former deputy director of health and humankind under former President Joe Biden, who led LGBT policymaking.
Speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, a National Health Association employee criticised the move as an attack on transgender employees that violated the traditions of trans institutions.
“They tend to be people who work with scientists and scientists to understand the fundamentals of human diversity,” Shanker said. He said that historically “meaning that we brought in a workforce that believes it’s an inclusive work environment, and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so shocking.”
Lindsay Danani, an associate professor of human resources management at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said choosing names and pronouns is a big step for trans people, and “it does a lot of damage to people” if people around them don’t use those names or pronouns.
She said that not respecting a person’s name or pronoun is some of the most common forms of transphobia, and that transphobia can lead to anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.
However, “If companies adopt policies that encourage all employees to bring themselves to the workplace, they tend to be more productive and may benefit from becoming a choice employer,” a 2017 study published in Human Resources Management’s Academic Journal found.
Another NIH employee spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing her job, but said the policy confusing a colleague who couldn’t find her in the employee database because she was constantly using her maiden name at work to maintain consistency in science publications. Her legal name is her married name.
USA Today requested a full copy of the Department of Health and Human Services’ policy regarding the “nickname” referenced in a note from the National Institutes of Health Food and Drug Administration, but the department did not provide it.
“This administration is regaining common sense and restoring biological truths to the federal government,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, in the release. “The previous administration’s policy of trying to design gender ideology for all aspects of public life is over.”
Trump’s executive order required him to ensure that identification documents, such as passports and visas, “accurately reflect” a person’s gender. The order also questioned the 2020 Supreme Court lawsuit that made it illegal for employers to fire someone because they were gay or transgender, and ordered the Attorney General to “fix the misuse” of the Supreme Court decision.
The Human Resources Administration ordered the agency to “disband or cancel” resource groups for employees “that promote gender ideology,” confirming that the bathrooms are “specified by biological sex rather than sexual identity.”
How leaders identify themselves
The agency’s website within the Department of Health and Human Services currently lists the official names of the leaders. The head of the Food and Drug Administration, often referred to as Marty, is listed as Dr. Martin McCurry on the official website. Kennedy’s official bio lists him by his full name and briefly refers to him as “Bobby Jr.”
However, Dr Jayanta Bhatacharya, who passed through “Jay” in his previous degree, continues to use his nickname in the government. It appeared in the April 1 press release, his official biography, and multiple tweets headlines published on his official social media accounts. The essay published last week also used the nickname Bhatacharya to sign the letter.
Danani criticized the use of Bhatacharya’s nickname, saying, “The rules indicate that they are not for everyone.”
“If the rules are not motivated by prohibiting trans people from being themselves, it should apply to everyone. If you are in a leadership position, the modelling that applies to everyone in this starts with you,” she said.
