President Joe Biden signed an executive order June 15 to protect LGBTQ patients' healthcare, particularly for children.
The executive order comes as more than 300 anti-LGBTQ laws have been introduced across the country this past year, including efforts by Florida and Texas governors to suspend gender-confirming care for children.
Five things to know:
1. President Biden is charging HHS to release new sample policies for states on how to expand access to comprehensive healthcare for LGBTQ patients.
2. In order to begin efforts to ban conversion therapy — a widely discredited practice attempting to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity — President Biden is instructing HHS to clarify that federally funded programs cannot offer the therapy and to begin work on a public information campaign about the practice.
3. The Federal Trade Commission is to consider whether conversion therapy constitutes an unfair or deceptive act or practice and whether to issue consumer warnings or notices.
4. HHS is to address the barriers and exclusionary policies LGBTQ individuals and families face in accessing healthcare, including mental healthcare, reproductive healthcare, and HIV prevention and treatment.
5. HHS is to expand youth access to suicide prevention resources and issue new guidance through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on providing evidence-informed mental healthcare for LGBTQ youth.