Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente claims to be one of the largest medical employers in the Northwest, employing over 300,000 individuals and more than 98,000 doctors and nurses.
It may also be one of the wokest employers in healthcare as evidenced by its human resources department’s request for each job applicant to disclose his or her “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.”
Screenshots obtained by the Portland Courant show a wide set of choices from which applicants may choose.
Potential employees are asked to choose from one of 12 sexual orientations which seeks to quantify that person’s emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to others.
According to the Portland Courant, choices range from “asexual” (attracted to nobody) to “pansexual” (attracted to anyone and everyone) to “skoliosexual” a term that defines a person who is attracted only to those who don’t believe they are either fully male or female.
Applicants are then asked to choose from one of 31 “gender identities” which steer clear of the immutable characteristics of biological sex and offer dozens of nebulous variations of preference as to how a person sees himself or herself.
In a post on LinkedIn, Jeffrey Collins, who is President of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals, says it’s important to talk about sex in the workplace, saying, “Kaiser Permanente is the first employer where I’ve been able to be open about who I am and who I love. I’m proud to celebrate our LGBTQ+ community — and the importance of inclusion and belonging in the workplace.”
Collins’ posted the comment after Kaiser Permanente Northwest celebrated “Pride Month” in June by lighting the upper floors of its Portland headquarters in rainbow colors.
The company is also at the forefront of the “gender-affirming care” movement and offers procedures to children as young as three years old who are being treated for so-called “transgenderism.”
The Portland Courant reports that a study of Kaiser Permanente’s patients included 1,347 transgender and non-conforming youth and discovered that most suffer from mental health problems at a higher rate than does the average population.
It’s not clear how a potential employee’s ability to perform a given job is related to his or her sexual orientation or gender identity, but that isn’t stopping Kaiser Permanente from asking.
This OMG citizen journalist works for Kaiser Permanente. He says:
“The questions they ask about my sexuality and gender have become outrageous. Not sure what that has to do with how well I can perform my job.” pic.twitter.com/J2ohBWtTFD
— James O’Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) June 5, 2023
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