Hawaii Health Dept. Trains Therapists To Hide Children’s Sexuality From Parents – One America News Network

OAN’s Noah Herring
4:27 PM – Thursday, July 27, 2023

A recent training presentation from the Hawaii Department of Health encouraged its staff members not to document conversations with LGBTQ+ youth, keeping their sexual identity hidden from their parents and guardians. 

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The training, which was titled “Affirming practice with LGBTQ+ youth,” was presented to state employees and graduate students at the University of Hawaii Center for Cognitive Behavior on May 5^th of this year. Photographic evidence of the presentation was obtained by Fox News Digital.

The presenters were Kemberly Allen, chair of the Hawaii Department of Health’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division’s Safe Spaces Committee, and Robin Lee, a member of the committee. 

“Be careful about what you document – parents may be able to access the information,” the presentation noted under a slide about confidentiality.

“Be aware of Hawaii’s age of consent for mental health services law for youth 14 and older” and also stated: “It should ALWAYS be the LGBTQ+ person’s decision to whom and when they disclose their orientation or identity. Being LGBTQ+ is not a safety risk, but being out could be,” the same slide read.

The department argued that the guideline is because “Hawaii’s age for mental health services law for youth 14 and older” and that “it should ALWAYS be the LGBTQ+ is not a safety risk, but being out could be.” 

Last year, Governor David Ige (D-Hawaii) also signed three bills into law that he claimed protected the fundamental rights of LGBTQ Hawaiians, including allowing “gender-affirming” health care.

In a statement to Fox News, Allen stated, “When we say, ‘Be careful about what you document,’ we convey that clinicians, when deciding what words to use in documentation, should carefully consider the youth’s individual situation and any harm that may arise from writing about a youth’s identity in the medical record.”

“If a youth is not ‘out’ to their parents but discloses their identity to their therapist, the therapist could inadvertently inform the parents if they document this information in the medical record and if the parent requests a copy of that record,” Allen continued.

The presentation pushed attendees to learn how they can use their “privilege” to support those who are “marginalized.” 

The presentation posed questions like, “What stereotypes have you been taught about LGBTQ+ people,” “What are your privileges,” and “How can you use your privilege to support others who are marginalized?” 

On one slide of the presentation, a definition is provided for “minority stress,” which, according to the presenters, includes “additional stressors that people experience due to having a stigmatized minority status.” 

The viewing ended with a link to the department’s LGBTQ Safe Spaces website.

The Safe Spaces site included videos that advocated for biological males to compete in female sports, guides on hormone therapies, and health care providers who will perform sex reassignment surgery. 

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