Should a gay male LPN reveal his sexual orientation...

[LPNTO]

Should a gay male LPN reveal his sexual orientation to clients when asked? Some might say go ahead...your facility can't fire you for it...it's against the law? But actually, I live in Nebraska and it is legal to fire someone based on sexual orientation. And even if it was illegal it would be easy for an employer to fire an employee based on sexual orientation and then try to pass it off as if it were for some other reason.

For example, what if a young patient...10 y.o. asked me if I have a date on valentines day...and I do...with a guy...should I tell the kid...even if ma and pa are sitting 7 feet away listening...and what about when I work with mentally unstable patients...they say you are supposed to be honest with them always...because they don't deal with dishonesty well...but it seems like if I did tell them the truth it might set them off...or be counterproductive some how...anyway someone plz share with me some insight...maybe with some anecdotes and some tips

[Elladora]

Frankly, I can't imagine a situation where that would even come up.

[Awdlucky7]

I actually had the same question and thankfully others answered and reinforced my belief. I am an SLP and inpatient supervisor at a small hospital in a conservative rural town. I had a young gentleman that I was treating ask me point blank if I was gay and I laughed said what do you think and redirected to the therapy session. Living In the area I do, I think to be openly honest about sexual orientation would be detrimental to my treatment. It is not my job to rehabilitate bigotry or racism, and if I share to much about myself I may cause my patient to not trust me enough to follow my instructions in order for them to achieve the maximum benefit of therapy. As a passionate therapist, I strive to keep my personal life separate from my professional life as it does not help to benefit the reason I became a clinician which is to help the patient achieve as close to prior level of function as possible. Let's be honest, sexual orientation is not the main aspect of our lives that defines us. I don't tell my patients my gender preference in the same manner I also don't tell them that my hobbies are lapidary and landscaping as they have no bearing on the treatment I will provide.