T he published editorial "Improving sexual and gender minority care in plastic care" brings up critical points evaluating healthcare inequities experienced by the LGBTQ+ community. 1 Although it sheds light on a possible solution to tackle these inequities and affirms the importance of acknowledging patients' gender identities, it fails to prove why knowing a patient's sexual orientation is necessary to provide inclusive care. It also enforces a misleading connection between sexual orientation and gender and uses outdated or insensitive language.Although the benefit of acknowledgment and respect of an individual's gender identity, preferred or chosen name, and chosen pronouns is clear, knowing an individual's sexual orientation is not necessary for providing inclusive care. 2 Only in exceptional circumstances that is, sexual health evaluation for clinical purposes, an investigation of an individual's sexual orientation, behavior, and practices becomes relevant. If sexual history is not pertinent, there is no inclusive benefit in enquiring about a patient's sexual orientation. 3 Although the topic of "sexual orientation" is complex, in some cases fluid, and overall a sensitive topic, asking unnecessary questions without clear medical justifications may create mistrust in the patient-provider relationship, further augmenting barriers to care. For research purposes, collecting demographic information may be useful. However, the authors should not advocate for routine collection of information on "sexual orientation identification" for potential future research purposes without any relevance to the currently provided care or direct patient's benefit.The authors use the terminology "sexual and gender minority" to refer to the LGBTQ+ community. While used in other prior publications, this language implies a singular categorization of sexual orientation and gender identity as the authors do not otherwise clarify these independent identities. 4 The use of this term also points to a binary assumption of a dependent relationship between sexual orientation and gender identity. There is an intersection of stigma and discrimination between gender identity and sexual orientation, but identification of one does not necessarily determine the other. 5 The use of the word "minority" in this context is unnecessary and potentially damaging as it pigeonholes the LGBTQ+ community. 6,7 It is also relevant for the authors to note that patients should be able to answer their gender identity via an open answer option rather than subjecting them to a limited number of predetermined box options.Throughout this article, the acronym LGBT is used to encompass the LGBTQ+ community. Although the use of varying acronyms is not inherently incorrect, the authors fail to include the queer, nonbinary, genderqueer, or other identities that are a mainstay in this community. 8 Although the authors bring up a valuable point for why transgender individuals may seek unprescribed hormones or gender-affirming procedures, they use terminology that may be perc...
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