Right Wing Whine Alert: "Allow doctors the right to refuse to treat gay people!!111!!"

[ck4829]

Via Good as You, we get this interesting follow-up to the National Organization for Marriage ad we mentioned earlier, thanks to this statement from the Human Rights Campaign setting the record straight about the claims made in the ad:

The general argument of the ad is that the push for marriage equality isn’t just about rights for same-sex couples, it’s about imposing contrary values on people of faith. The examples they cite in the ad are:

(1) A California doctor who must choose between her faith and her job

(2) A member of New Jersey church group which is punished by the state because they can’t support same-sex marriage

(3) A Massachusetts parent who stands by helpless while the state teaches her son that gay marriage is okay

The facts indicate that (1) refers to the Benitez decision in California, determining that a doctor cannot violate California anti-discrimination law by refusing to treat a lesbian based on religious belief.

...

The California doctor entered a profession that promises to “first, do no harm” and the law requires her to treat a patient in need – gay or straight, Christian or Muslim – regardless of her religious beliefs. The law does not, and cannot, dictate her faith – it can only insist that she follow her oath as a medical professional."

http://rightwingwatch.org/content/i%E2%80%99m-not-doctor-i-play-one-nom-ad

That's right, the life of your child or a friend could be on the line some day, and what if you got a doctor, and his/her first concern wasn't the life of that loved one, but making sure that he/she wasn't saving the life of a gay person.

Run that scenario through your mind for a second while remembering that this is what the right wing wants.

[No More Bushbots]

1. Iran has a theocracy

I encourage all Right-Wingers to move there.

[NC_Nurse]

2. I can't imagine a doctor who wouldn't treat a gay person. Of course, I have a

hard time imagining that any doctor would have anything to do with the interrogations at Gitmo either, and apparently some did.

It's a sad statement on the lack of integrity in the profession these days.

Disclaimer: Of course, I'm not accusing ALL doctors of a lack of integrity, but I'll add that in case someone takes it that way. I believe most doctors have
the best interests of their patients at heart, but I have met a few that were only in it for the money - or worse.

[Sebastian Doyle]

3. As ridiculous as this sounds, I can see it actually happening

In recent years, we have had fundagelicals go to school to become pharmacists, then once in their careers, refuse to sell medications that are "against their religious beliefs".

Would fundagelical doctors refusing to treat gays, or for that matter, a Jehova Witness doctor who refused to do blood transfusions, be much of a stretch from there?

Bottom line... if your job requires you to do something that violates your religious beliefs, then you either chose the wrong job or the wrong religion. Don't expect the rest of the planet to bend to your self-imposed conflict of interest.