New Texas rule specifically allows social workers to discriminate against LGBTQ people / LGBTQ Nation
Who thinks up the despicable laws the gop enacts?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaking at FreePac, hosted by FreedomWorks, in Phoenix, Arizona.Photo: Gage Skidmore
The administration of Texas Governor Greg Abbott pressured a state's regulatory board to change its rules so that social workers can legally discriminate against LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.
Abbott's office said the rule change was necessary to bring the state regulatory board in line with Texas law, but professional social workers say the rule change is still unethical, immoral, and will harm people who already find it difficult to access medical and mental health care.
On Friday, October 9, Alice Bradford, executive director of the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners (TSBSWE), received an email from Abbott's staff recommending that the board change a rule in its code of conduct that forbids social workers from turning away clients based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
The board added protections for sexual orientation in 2010 and gender identity in 2012, according to Newsweek. But a 2019 state law granted the governor's office more influence over how state-licensed professions regulate their workers.
Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton — both of whom have joined state Republicans in opposing any expansions of LGBTQ rights — told the board that it needed to change its rules because they went beyond the scope of the nondiscrimination protections and disciplinary measures allowed by Texas law.
So, on Monday, the TSBSWE voted unanimously to change its code of conduct. Now social workers can refuse clients because of their LGBTQ identity or disability.
Will Francis, executive director of the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, called the rule change "incredibly disheartening" and criticized the board for voting without first getting feedback from licensed social workers on how the rule would impact their work and their clients.
Steven Parks, a social worker in Houston, told the Texas Tribune that while the rule change is technically legal, it's also unethical. He added that the state has basically permitted social workers to exercise personal prejudice under the guise of state law.
He also told KVUE that LGBTQ people, especially those living in rural areas, may now find it harder to access medical or mental health care now that state social workers can simply refuse to work with them.
Newsanti-LGBTQ discrimination, disabilities, Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, Texas GOP, Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners
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The last gasps of misanthropy will be really ugly!
This could be the first test of our new court. We'll find out if we have a new justice or just a travesty who punishes people for just being a little different.
Despicable people do.
This little bulletin from LGBTQ Nation does not gives us any of the specifics of the law or what was changed. It's hard to come to any conclusions from a rant.
Were you actually curious about the details, there are links in the article. I suggest that rather than critiquing the 'little bulletin from LGBTQ Nation', you avail yourself of all of the information therein.
Oddly enough, I'm not worried about this. Social workers are appalled, as are the average and ordinary citizens like me.
Considering that Greg Abbott has been unable to remove his lips from Trump's big butt, he is on his way out. Over the last several months, he has sold us out...in a manner similar to the way Trump sold out the United States. He had a chance to do the right thing regarding the Corona Virus. But he chose a path contrary to the well being of native Texans and transplants alike.
It would also seem he would have a soft spot for parents with disabilities, especially considering where his ass has been since 1984. But I guess that since his own, personal open-ended law suit has provided him with unlimited funds to see to the most minute details of wealthy family life
I fully expect to see Abbott's picture return to those personal injury ads for which he was well-known prior to becoming AG.
If the social workers are not in compliance with the law, then the Governor has done the right thing, regardless of his personal feelings toward it. The correct thing to do, should it be necessary, is to change the law so that we act in compliance to it. To do otherwise is to say we no longer wish to be ruled by the rule of law. For instance, as has already happened, a group can say it's perfectly moral, regardless of what the law may say, to go to someone's house and vandalize it because they do not like that person's political views. In short, it the law is wrong, fix it. If it's not, obey it. but it's insane to think it's okay to ignore it and think we'll hold society together.
Laws have been changed by people disobeying them and fighting them.
Progress has been made by people refusing to sit in the back of the bus.
Following unjust rules with complete compliance will not change anything.
You make an excellent point. One that I had not considered fully. Thank you. I will give this more thought.
I question why the Governor thinks that a medical organization setting higher ethical standards than the state has codified is a BAD thing.