GPs to ask about sexual orientation

I like you icy stare reply Chewbacca

My answer to what my sexual orientation is would be 'due south'. I like to say 'North by North West' but most Doctors would be too young to remember the film or understand my odd sense of humour.

In the context of this thread, Nelliemoser, to say that you swing may be in danger of being misconstrued!

Last year I had an eye examination by an opthalmologist at my optitions. This question was asked on the on line NHS form that had to be filled in. As it could have no bearing on the health of my eyes she refused to ask it, so I didn't answer it. It seemed crazy to me. I can see that it might be important information in some circumstances, but not in general.

I look forward to being asked when I go to see my GP on Thursday. Haven't had any offers since my husband died.
Should I say it would depend how desperate I was?

grumppa Ok yes it was daft of me to put that. To late now.
It's not true.

I agree with MOnica - I shall not answer irrelevant questions.

I have just had the National Trust volunteer questionnaire asking me my gender ( choice of 5) and sexual orientation- none of their business and totally irrelevant.

Every official body is apparently obsessed with 'diversity'. When I worked at my local library the joining form asked your sexual orientation, and despite the 'prefer not to say' box, it was amazing how many people did, like obedient sheep IMO.
I would have preferred a 'none of your business!' box.

Every council employee also had to take an Equality and Diversity 'training course'. It was an absolute joke - online, took 20 mins max, and consisted of about 3 choices of answer for each question. If you got one wrong, it came back with 'not quite right, try again!'
But never mind, at the end if it we were all 'trained'. I never did ask how much it cost the council to put us all through this.

What difference does it make to the treatment you need? Why do they need to ask these questions?

First world priorities.

We have a hospital appointment this afternoon, so what with the concern of potential illness and wrestling with new parking arrangements, I really do hope that DH is NOT asked what sexual orientation he is!!! I dread to think what his answer will be! I won't be helpful that's for sure!!

Sorry, 'It' not 'I'!

It would brighten my day, and possibly my GP'S to go in complaining of priapism and insisting that I be boxticked as female.

Well let them ask away, we can't be forced to tell them. I suggest we all boycott the question even if our sexual orientation is the traditional one, and eventually it will be dropped.

Well I'm off to third session of chemo this afternoon. There is a questionnaire every time, mainly relevant to medical status, but does include the racial question - as if they would be discriminating against racial minorities in the Chemo unit . If they ask about sexual orientation, I will answer "MYOB" as I do with the racial identity question. Surely GPs can explore this with possibly depressed/anxious patients. We have a box-ticking accountability culture these days. I don't see any evidence that the information so provided is anything but a work creation scheme for junior clerks and for junior health ministers to be able to reply to the various very vocal pressure groups.

Of course, I could also answer, "Same as the last time"

Years ago when computers were newly installed where I worked, one day it asked me about my "orientation". In my coffee break I said after nearly 50 years of (mostly) happy marriage, two children and some GC was this really the time to be asking me about my orientation?
However a lady we know, married a long time, two adult sons, had her husband suddenly announce he wanted to live a lady! Amazement-and divorce-followed quickly!

I think I might reply that I can't remember !

If asked I would ask why I am being asked. There's been no convincing and legitimate reason given for this intrusion into a person's privacy. If this is part of an attempt to predict mental health professional needs in the future, then we should know, and the whole debate about whether LGBT people are likely to experience mental health problems in their lives should be out in the open. However, a word of caution seems appropriate because whilst LGBT people still fight for the same acceptance as heretosexual people, and hence are in a continual mental struggle, heterosexual people can equally be battling with emotional issues that are just as damaging and mentally stressful, so if mental health facilities are being planned purely on the needs of the LGBT community, then this is discriminatory in respect of those who don't fall into that community.

I think most people our age are confident enough to say MYOB but if this is being asked from the age of 16 then teenagers, especially ones who are worried healthwise or finding their identity and see the Dr as a safe person to tell, might just give the information, or feel they have to. This will then be on their record for life. I think the GNetter who said it is a preliminary to the NHS being privatised and for insurance purposes is probably not far off the truth, also some members of the current government are trying to roll back legislation that gives equality to GLBT people and have very unpleasant views on their treatment.

it's not that hard to understand!
researchers of all kinds will be using anonymised data to investigate all kinds of things, which does not in any way intrude on our privacy- off the top of my head, possible questions might be-
rates of cervical cancer in lesbians
patterns of STI in people of different sexual orientations
uptake of contraceptive advice
urogenital issues in gay vs straight men eg is ED more likely in one or otherpopoulation, do different populations seek help at different rates
and that's without thinking about MH issues, where myworking hypothesis would be that MH issues may be more common in LGB people due to discrimination/lack of acceptance.
As for transgender that is a different matter entirely.
I would hope we can trust GPs to collect this matter sensitively. And after all they already have a lot of intimate information about us. I don't see why sexual orientation is such a sensitive issue. It's just one fact about us.

I would love to be a fly one the wall if some-one asked my DM (she's nearly 89).

As I've been Married 3 times, am now a Widow & have a DD think I would say guess

My GP of 23 years until I moved 6 years ago & I would have had hours of fun with this. I'm a retired Civil Servant & the conversations we had were brilliant, lasted longer than the Health Consultation if I was last Patient of the day

They keep inventing new genders. It must be very confusing for those who are a bit unsure to start with!

Chewbacca.As would be my response and a ' will that have any bearing on my recent xray concerning the hip replacement surgery you have indicated I need.'

I used to work at a community hospital where 99% of the patients were over retirement age. This question was supposed to be asked, as part of the admissions process, but a lot of the staff felt it inappropriate and overly intrusive. We used to sidestep it by asking how they preferred to dress in the day, how they liked to be addressed, etc. I realise that isn't the same thing at all, (and a GP may have particular reasons for discussing orientation), but we tried to make everyone as comfortable as possible, in a way that suited them, feeling this was much more to the point.