Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana University School of Medicine has canceled its annual LGBTQ+ Health Care Conference, posting the change in a brief note on the event’s webpage.
“Due to emerging circumstances, we are unable to move forward with the LGBTQ+ Health Care Conference as planned in April 2025,” the statement said Friday morning. The statement was changed later in the day to simply say the event had been canceled.
The virtual conference included “health care professionals, learners, researchers, patients, community organizations and interested community members who seek to understand the unique health considerations and barriers to health care in the LGBTQ+ population,” according to the event page.
The conference began in 2017 as a single-day event but was expanded to two days.
When asked about the cancelation, the school responded with another brief statement: “The IU School of Medicine LGBTQ+ Health Care Conference has been canceled,” spokesperson Katie Duffey wrote in an email.
IU’s decision comes as governments, nonprofit organizations, universities and even private companies are grappling with how to handle issues related to diversity—including LGBTQ issues—in light of President Donald Trump’s hostility toward diversity, equity and inclusion programs. This week, he ordered a freeze on the release of all federal government loans and grants while the administration reviewed whether the spending complied with executive orders the president has issued since taking office. Those orders including efforts to remove protections for transgender people and end DEI efforts.
Trump later rescinded that order. But several organizations have told IBJ that they are nervous about what could happen to their funding under the new administration.
The university did not provide a reason why the conference was canceled. And IU officials did not make any connection between the conference and Trump’s actions.
Chris Geidner, an attorney who writes the Law Dork blog, posted this week that on Monday he had been invited to be a keynote speaker at the event only to be told Wednesday that the event was canceled. He wrote that the conference had been planned for April 23-24.
In his blog post, Geidner said he was also told the school was canceling the event “due to multiple emerging factors and circumstances beyond the control of the Indiana University School of Medicine.”
“Of course, we all know what happened,” Geidner said. “Donald Trump is president, and he is empowering his people to disempower anyone not like him.”
Indiana lawmakers have similarly banned gender-affirming care for minors. In November, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Indiana’s ban on such care would stay in place, reversing a district court’s order that would have prevented the state’s law from going into effect.
In years past, the IU School of Medicine touted the conference and its leadership in LGBTQ+ issues.
In 2021, an IU School of Medicine post noted that the LGBTQ+ Health Care Conference drew 1,000 registrants including physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, psychologists, therapists and other health care professionals.
In 2019, IU School of Medicine Dean Jay Hess wrote a blog, under the headline “Pride in our LGBTQ health care leadership,” where he noted that more than 160 physicians, nurses, physician assistants and other health professionals attended the conference.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
As soon as you get to the capital T, the lying begins. No one has ever changed gender in the history of the human race.
I assume you are referring to Trump.
I think you mean sex?
I assume your medical credentials are solid, to make this kind do outrageous statement.
I’m assuming it will come out that this cancelation was strongly “suggested” by Indiana’s legislators and/or attorney general.
The woke joke is crashing like a house of cards. Amen
It’s a doctors job to be able to treat all their patients.
I have yet to find a PCP over 55 who actually knows what they’re doing at this point. They haven’t learned anything since the 90s
The ignorance displayed here is huge, Back in the 1980’s I was a new programmer at a hospital and I was shocked to find out options in the computer system for “sex” was not just M/F. There was a third option, “H” for hermaphrodite. As a senior nurse explained to me that because of the genetic dice roll, sometimes external genitalia on new borns was not so clear and these fell into the category of “H”. We now have genetic testing to definitively tell the sex genes, and even then there are variations.
So, if external sex organs can be indeterminate, it makes perfect sense that traits that cannot be seen vary from individual to individual.
No matter how much anybody wants to deny it, it is proven science that there are variations in sexual characteristics, and to deny it is just willful ignorance.
To add to that … whenever a newborn shows signs of H, the family must decide to raise the baby as a male or female. Sometimes they guess wrong as to what their child is on the inside and only realize this as the child develops.
You left out the fact that usually the individuals you’re referring to ( hermaphrodite ) although born with both genitals, one doesnt function at all. The issue is that the LGBTQ community wants to lump all these medical complications with persons who feel like they’re another sex mentally versus what we can physically see and their biological make up. These are clearly two very different things. Unless someone is born as what is called simultaneous hermaphroditism where bother sex organs functions, this is rarely the case and a medical procedure is required along with the parents making a decision on the child’s sex.
Kudos to Dan M.!
In Genesis 1, God created man, male and female. Anyone who claims otherwise is hurting and needs compassion and prayer for the pain they are in.
So not anti LGB+ . But serious question. Why would a doctor treat a Lesbian female different from how she treats a Bi or Straight Female. Body, Cells, Organs, Brain are all identical.
I am an adult lesbian woman. I do not need a separate conference from the general population to teach me about my health care. This stuff has gone so far off the path of logic that it’s laughable. Every gay person I know just shakes their head at this lunacy. We realize that a bunch of well meaning people want to make sure we don’t feel like we’re feeling discriminated against, but 99.5% of the gay population do NOT feel this way. Stop trying to divide us.
That said, I will also say that the majority of us would also very much like to just be referred to as the LGB poplulation. Again, 99.5% of us have no idea what the rest of this funny little alphabet soup is about. Good Lord….what is going on there?! Lunatics.
Kelly F. thank you for a wonderfully sane comment.
I understand where you’re coming from, but I respectfully disagree.
LGBTQ+ health conferences aren’t about division; they exist because historically, healthcare systems have overlooked or misunderstood the specific needs of LGBTQ+ individuals. Many doctors aren’t trained in issues like hormone therapy, PrEP, or the mental health disparities that disproportionately affect our community. A general healthcare conference often doesn’t cover these topics in depth, which is why specialized events are valuable.
As for the claim that “99.5%” of gay people feel this way—there’s no real data to support that. Many LGBTQ+ individuals appreciate having spaces where their unique experiences are acknowledged, and dismissing that as “lunacy” can alienate those who do benefit from these resources.
Lastly, regarding the broader LGBTQ+ community, language evolves, and different identities exist whether we personally relate to them or not. It’s not about forcing labels on anyone—it’s about respecting how others define themselves. No one is required to adopt every letter in the acronym, but dismissing people as “lunatics” for using language that helps them feel seen is unfair.
We can have discussions about what best serves the community without tearing each other down.