The Issue Of Institutional Racism In Our Society

Society strikes against those who look or are different. The LGBTQ community continues to struggle for their rights. As America embarked in this rough roller coaster with Donald Trump’s presidency, racism over minority groups has risen. Not only were minority groups affected but also those in the LGBTQ communities. Recently, LGBTQ members have struggled to be accepted in American society and their rights are in jeopardy. There has been many cases in which LGBTQ individuals are discriminated in the work place and in public institutions. In 2016, Evan Minton was denied a hysterectomy surgery when hospital officials learned that he was only doing the surgery because he was transgender. Dignity Mercy San Juan Medical Center of California is affiliated directly with the Catholic church. Minton stated that he told a nurse at the hospital that he was transgender and two days before his surgery the hospital cancelled the surgery. Although there are many different sociological theories of racism that can be applied to this situation, intersectionality is the best theory that supports this conflict.

Individual Racism is one of the sociological theories that relates to this issue. According to the book, Race and Racism, Individual Racism is when, “One person discriminates against another on the basis of race or ethnicity” (Golash-Boza, 2017:98). We can see Individual Racism against Evan Minton, according to the article, Court takes a stand against LGBTQ bias, “According to the lawsuit, hospital President Brian Ivie told Minton’s surgeon that she would ‘never’ be permitted to perform the hysterectomy at Mercy because it was to treat his gender dysphoria” (Hiltzik). In this issue, the president was racist and discriminatory towards the patient, Evan Minton, and was using the church principles as an excuse to not let him have the surgery. The Unruh Act says otherwise because the act states that any individual has to receive ‘full and equal access to health services’ and they can’t be turned away in any health facility (Hiltzik). The president of the hospital is an individual that learned that Evan Minton was transgender and denied him his rights because of this, therefore we can say this is individual racism. Not only the theory of individual racism can be applied but institutional racism as well.

Institutional racism is when “policies, laws and institutions that reproduce racial inequalities” (Golash-Boza, 2017:102). Both institutional racism and individual racism are connected because institutions are made up of people who discriminate. In the situation with Minton, we learned that due to the institutional beliefs of the hospital, the president of Mercy hospital did not allow for the surgeon to provide the surgery. The institution then told the patient, Evan Minton, to go do the surgery at another Mercy Dignity hospital but with no Catholic Church affiliation. The appeals in court stated, “our state nondiscrimination law, Unruh Act requires ‘full and equal’ access, and that doesn’t mean turning a person away from a facility” (Hiltzik). Under this act, the hospital had no right to turn Minton away. The hospital then continued to say, “Dignity countered Minton’s lawsuit by asserting that it was protected by its ‘federal and state constitutional rights of free exercise of religion and freedom of expression’ the appellate decision said” (Hiltzik). The surgeon that was told not do the surgery sided with the patient and protested that he was being discriminated at the hospital to the media. After they protested, the other Mercy Dignity hospital, but with no Catholic Church affiliation, coincidentally was able to do the surgery for him a couple of days later. This goes to show that the institution was being racist towards him and didn’t do anything for the patient until he stood up to them.

The next sociological theory that relates the best to this issue is Intersectionality. According to the book, Race and Racism, Intersectionality is “a simultaneous look at various forms of oppression” (Golash-Boza, 2017:120). Intersectionality allows for race, class, and gender to work together and create oppression. So, in this case, Evan Minton was a woman but identified as a man and therefore the medical institution denied him the right to get the surgery because of what he identified himself as. As stated, “Two days before the scheduled operation, Minton mentioned to a Mercy nurse that he was transgender. Mercy canceled the operation the next day” (Hiltzik). This whole situation started because of Evan Minton identifying as transgender. This situation goes to show that Minton would have been able to have the surgery if he wouldn’t have said anything about his gender. His rights were taken away and was treated less than any other person.

In conclusion the hospital denied Evan Minton solely because he was transgender and that is best explained through the theory of Intersectionality. Another article was published stating the hospital and Evan Minton are going to trial and the have a good case to be heard. Intersectionality, individual racism and institutional racism are all theories that are connected. Ones gender should not be a reason to take away human rights. Ongoing struggles among the LGBTQ community are happening right now that deal with all different sociological theories of racism.