Rayven wrote:That is one of my favorite movies.

Come to think of it, I think they've asked me some odd questions when I went to give blood too. I can't remember all of them because it's been so many years, but I believe they involved needing to know who my partner had been with. Like I could ever know for sure. *rolls eyes*

For giving blood it's actually a matter of making sure the blood (and you, and the nurse doing it, and the patient(s) the blood is going to) are safe and doesn't need time and money intensive testing to be sure of that.
Like you can't give blood if you have had a new partner in the last few months or if you've travelled abroad or just if you're on your period.
Some countries have even more restrictions, like where I'm at I can't give blood because I lived in another country between 1988 and 1997 or something like that.

To get back on topic though, isn't it mostly the US doing it though?
I've never been asked anything like this in the two countries I've lived in.

Hm, perhaps we're giving them too much credit and the US are just nosy little bitches.

At my therapist's office I never had to disclose my sexual orientation, but every time I go to the doctor I have to. I don't mind telling them, but if it's just a routine checkup why do I have to disclose that on the paperwork every time?

The clinic I work at doesn't ask about orientation, but the basic intake forms do ask for both sex and gender. Mostly because they want to make sure to get pronouns right, but also because they do a lot of musculoskeletal work, and that does get impacted by the physical sex.
(For instance, I didn't know this until I started working there, but apparently a male's iliac crests are higher than a female's. So if you are looking at low back / lumbar pain, for example, and there's pelvic dysfunction of some sort, then where the pain goes and how it manifests will be different for a male or a female. I don't remember all the specifics but there were a few cases where it made a surprising difference. Like if it was actually a hip issue, and the SI joint or the low back was trying to compensate, the areas of stress would be different? I think? I need to ask about it again, that feels fuzzy as a memory.)

Not that that helps figure out the mystery of why they'd want to know sexual orientation.

Asking about sex and gender makes sense, I understand that. You're right though that it doesn't explain why they would want sexual orientation. Someone could be female, but identify as male, that doesn't mean though that they're into women just because they identify as male, they could like men. Or both. Or none. It doesn't make sense to me why they would need it, unless it is for studies like 1 in 3 gay men are prone to be more depressed, etc.

Your sexual orientation or gender identification can absolutely affect your mental health, especially based on the atmosphere around you. Even if you don't realize it.

there is what was said above, and also the fact that sometimes medicine is discriminatory. for instance, if you're gay you can't donate blood.

I agree it feels kind of unnecessary. I've always known I was straight and have no issues putting it down but i feel for people who could be rlly uncomfortable answering. It's the age old question of what is trully important to ask and what is not in healthcare. Theres like a whole biomedical ethics portion of this way back when I took it lol.