HHS official discusses agency’s proposed LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination rule
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Tuesday for a new regulation that clarifies nondiscrimination rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. “The department is doing all that it can to protect access to health and human services,” Melanie Fontes Rainer, director of HHS’s Office of Civil Rights, told the Washington Blade by phone on Tuesday. “This proposed rule is a step in that effort,” she said.
Health programs administered by the agency are covered by the nondiscrimination rules in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, Fontes Rainer said, so, “This rule is meant to get to that other slice of the pie that encompasses really important work at the Department of Human Services.” Nondiscrimination, here, is a priority, “specifically nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” she said.
If finalized pursuant to the 60-day public comment period, HHS’s rule will apply to such programs as those administered by the “Administration for Children and Families, SAMHSA, and some other organizations within HHS that have grants,” Fontes Rainer said.
Examples include Head Start, which provides educational, health, nutritional and other services to low income children and their families.
