This Week in Trans News: Texas Relents on LGBTQ Social Work Protections
Good news from a state obsessed with marginalizing queer people
Two weeks after dropping language protecting LGBTQ patients from discrimination in its code of conduct, the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners reversed course, unanimously voting to reinstate protections.
The reversal came after 24,000 people had signed a petition organized by the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers opposing the state board’s rollback of patient protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
On Tuesday, the chapter applauded the board’s decision to reconsider. “This was a big win today for advocacy, the board and for nondiscrimination,” the association’s executive director, Will Francis, told NBC News. “But this is still Texas, and there are not underlying protections for LGBTQ persons. So had these nondiscrimination protections been stripped away, that really would have left people vulnerable, so we need legislation that ensures that there is protection.”
The board’s initial October 13 decision to drop the protections language came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the code of conduct didn’t match state guidelines on the matter. Abbott himself has long opposed queer and…
