A woman undergoing treatment for breast cancer has been dropped by her medical clinic based on “hurtful remarks” they allege she made about the “LGBTQ community.” Marlene Barbera, who is scheduled for a mastectomy later this month, had commented on a trans pride flag she had seen in the waiting room of the Richmond Family Medicine Clinic in Portland, Oregon.
Speaking to Reduxx, Barbera says she had written her Doctor a note last year objecting to the presence of a trans pride flag she had seen in the clinic’s reception area.
“I wrote my Doctor a MyChart message all about how offensive, I, as a gender critical woman, found political messaging in a healthcare setting,” Barbera says. People who align themselves with ‘gender critical’ views often reject gender ideology, specifically as it conflates the subjective definition of “gender identity” with the reality of biological sex. Most also take issue with the impact gender ideology has had on the rights of women and girls.
Barbera provided Reduxx with a copy of the initial message she sent her physician in which she laid out her concerns with the flag.
“I have been threatened on Twitter by trans activists with rape and death — so it is daunting to go for medical treatment with that banner proclaiming that what I am, an adult human female, is a mere opt-in category for any gender non-conforming male and not a reality,” she wrote in her message. “May I please have a telephone appointment to discuss how I may access your medical care without walking under a banner that seeks to negate all I am?”
Barbera explains she had thought MyChart, an application where patients can access and manage their personal health information and communicate with their physician, was private, but was later told that other staff had seen her remarks on the flag.
“[My] Doctor said ‘well, I am not gonna go out there and take it down,'” Barbera says, noting that her physician had been her primary care provider for 12 years and had other members of her family as patients.
Barbera says that the issue escalated in June while she was simply trying to leave a private message for her doctor regarding blood test results and a receptionist refused to allow her to do so.
“The person insisted I make an appointment. I have breast cancer and consequently an abundance of medical appointments so I did not want to do that. They got frustrated with my ‘non-compliance’ and hung up on me,” Barbera recounts. “Thinking it might have been in error, I called back. I was told I was ‘not allowed’ and that I must speak to the previous person who had hung up on me. I declined as things hadn’t gone well the first time.”
Barbera then says she made an assumption it was because of the previous receptionist’s views on her past objection to the trans pride flag, speculating the receptionist had been transgender.
“I asked, guessing ‘did I hurt the trans person’s feelings?’ And the receptionist took offense to the question, asking ‘what did you say‘ slowly and with great emphasis.” Barbera ended the call, feeling she was not getting any proper assistance.
A short few weeks later, Barbera received MyChart correspondence from Oregon Health Science University (OHSU) Practice Manager Stein Berger. In the message, Berger asserted that “Richmond is an all-inclusive clinic and we value and advocate for diversity,” and insisted Barbera had made “transphobic remarks” that were “harmful to our staff.”
The same day, Barbera received a formal notice from Berger via e-mail confirming that she was being dropped from the clinic.
The message read: “Effective immediately, you are discharged from receiving medical care at the Richmond Family Medicine Clinic. This action is being taken because of ongoing disrespectful and hurtful remarks about our LGBTQ community and staff … Please note that you are also now dismissed from all OHSU Family Medicine clinics, including Immediate Care clinics.”
The notice also stipulated that the clinic would be fully cutting off services to Barbera on July 29 in accordance with their 30-day notice policy.
Barbera told Reduxx her “anxiety [is] through the roof,” and that the experience had triggered her long-standing struggle with depression.
“I have severe chronic agitated depression since teen years,” Barbera explains. “Now I have no primary care doctor and no where else to go. I have been made to feel like a worthless nothing.”
Barbera asserts that despite the hardship losing her general practitioner has caused her as a cancer patient, the incident has simply validated her views on gender ideology.
“Gender ideology is a religion. I do not subscribe to that religion. I would not force anyone to pray the rosary with me,” she says. “The trans movement says a man is allowed to define being a woman by way of his feelings but that a woman is not allowed to define being a woman by way of her material reality. So really, it is a men’s rights movement. Dangerous to women and children.”
Reduxx reached out to OHSU but did not receive a response in time for publication. This article may be updated in the event they provide comment.
This is not the first time Reduxx has learned that a woman lost access to critical services due to her views on gender ideology.
Last year, Reduxx reported that a domestic violence victim in British Columbia, Canada, had been evicted from a transitional shelter after expressing concerns to management about gender ideology. The victim, who asked to remain anonymous, had found a room at Peggy’s Place, a shelter for women who escaped domestic violence and had concurrent special health needs.
But after experiencing repeat traumatic incidents in the shelter with two trans-identified males who had been accommodated there, the victim began raising her complaints with management. Shortly after, she was evicted, with the shelter manager calling her “transphobic” and accusing her of having “fears about trans people.”
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