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Broad testimony backs HB 6913 to prohibit LGBTQ+ discrimination in long‑term care; advocates cite cases of isolation and staff training needs
Summary
Dozens of witnesses — LGBTQ advocacy groups, care providers, residents and family members — testified in favor of HB 6913, which would prohibit long‑term care facilities from discriminating against residents based on sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status and require staff training and nondiscrimination policies.
A wide range of advocacy organizations, providers, residents and family members told the Aging Committee they support House Bill 6913 to bar discrimination in long‑term care facilities against residents based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and HIV status.
Mairead Painter, the State Long Term Care Ombudsman, said her office has received complaints involving discrimination, harassment and isolation of LGBTQ+ residents and that the bill would promote dignity by requiring nondiscrimination policies and staff training. “My office has received cases related to discrimination, harassment, isolation that are all faced by members of the LGBTQ plus community within skilled nursing facilities,” Painter said.
Advocates from the Triangle Community Center, AIDS United, Equality Connecticut, the LGBTQ+ Justice and Opportunity Network and other organizations described how LGBTQ older adults and people living with HIV can be especially vulnerable in care settings because they are more likely to be single or estranged from biological family and rely on chosen family for support.
Rachel Simon, executive director of Triangle Community Center in Norwalk, described a transgender senior in the TCC care coordination program who relies on the center to buy incontinence supplies that align with “their plumbing and not their gender identity and expression,” saying such basics highlight the need for affirming care.
Family members and residents provided personal testimony. Janet Peck and Carol Conklin, married 49 years, said they worry about being ostracized or harassed if one partner enters a facility. “Having training for staff, having a liaison to address our needs...would ensure that we could live openly and authentically at a time in our lives when we are the most vulnerable,” Peck said.
Provider groups including LeadingAge Connecticut expressed support for protections and privacy around HIV status; several providers said they believed many statutory protections already exist but welcomed clarity and training. Equality Connecticut and other advocates asked the committee to pass the bill to make statutory protections explicit for long‑term care settings.
The bill would require nondiscrimination policies, staff cultural competency training, posting of nondiscrimination notices, designation of facility LGBTQ liaisons, and protections against involuntary transfers or evictions based on LGBTQ status or HIV status, among other provisions. Committee members heard case examples and calls for staff training and reporting mechanisms to reduce the reporting burden on residents.
No vote occurred at the hearing; testimony was broadly supportive.
