File this under “despicable.” A two-mom couple in Michigan says the pediatrician they had selected to care for their newborn daughter has refused because they are lesbians.
Jami and Krista Contreras say they’d chosen Dr. Vesna Roi of Eastlake Pediatrics because of her holistic and natural approach, reports the Detroit Free Press. When they came to her office with their six-day-old daughter, however, another pediatrician, Dr. Karam, told them Dr. Roi had decided that because they are lesbians, she couldn’t care for their baby.
Dr. Roi later wrote a letter to the Contreras saying that she “never meant to hurt either one of you” and that “after much prayer following your prenatal, I felt that I would not be able to develop the personal patient doctor relationship that I normally do with my patients. . . . I felt that you deserved that type of relationship and I knew you could get that with Dr. Karam.” She apologized for not notifying them in advance, saying she had no way of contacting them and thought that if she came in to share her decision during their appointment, it would “take away much of the excitement.”
Ultimately, it seems that the Contreras will be better off working with a doctor who is accepting of their family—but that doesn’t negate the fact that this is still discrimination, pure and simple. Even worse, it’s legal discrimination in Michigan, which has no law banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (Compare a recent Washington state decision that said a florist could not claim religious freedom as a reason for refusing to provide flowers for a same-sex couple’s wedding.) There are also no federal regulations prohibiting such discrimination.
Dr. Roi is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She would be well served to review their policy statement on “Promoting the Well-Being of Children Whose Parents Are Gay or Lesbian,” which says:
Children need secure and enduring relationships with committed and nurturing adults to enhance their life experiences for optimal social-emotional and cognitive development. Scientific evidence affirms that children have similar developmental and emotional needs and receive similar parenting whether they are raised by parents of the same or different genders.
The Free Press says the Contreras are speaking about their situation in order to raise awareness about ongoing discrimination against the LGBT community. Kudos to them for that, especially as they are also dealing with the joys and chaos of having an infant in their lives.
On a related note, although much less awful than Roi’s actions, I have to question the Free Press for referring to “Krista Contreras, the baby’s biological mother” when there was absolutely no need to mention which of the mothers was biologically tied to the child. Doing this, it seems to me, can (intentionally or not) reinforce the idea that only the biological mother is the “real” mother or that there is some consistent and necessary difference between biological and nonbiological mothers’ relationships to their children. The National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association Stylebook Supplement on LGBT Terminology, advises, “Mention genetic relationships or conception techniques only when germane.” (I’d love GLAAD to include this in the next iteration of its Media Reference Guide, too.)