NYT Magazine - March 22 2020

I have felt uncomfortable with the idea
of donating money to candidates in
elections in which I have no voting
rights — such as senators in states other
than my own. I always believed that
only those able to vote in an election and
who will be directly aff ected by it have
the right to donate to the candidates.
It has become clear to me, however, that
individual senators and other elected
offi cials outside my state do indeed have a
powerful eff ect on the entire country. Is it
appropriate for me to donate to candidates
in elections in which I cannot vote?

Christine, Seattle

Given that campaigns for public offi ce
in this country require citizen contri-
butions, you are absolutely entitled to
help candidates from districts and states
other than your own. (Whether the way
that elections are fi nanced here is good
for our democracy is another question.)
As you recognize, the eff ects politicians
have aren’t confi ned to their immedi-
ate constituencies. On the contrary, the

prospects for our country depend on who

holds elective offi ces at every level. For

one thing, representatives from each of

the states in the U.S. House and Senate

vote on national legislation. For another,

policies in one state aff ect what happens

in others. Guns stolen in Pennsylvania are

used in crimes in New Jersey. Children

educated in Texas end up working in

California. Voter suppression in Florida

aff ects the composition not only of its

State Legislature but also of its legislative

delegates in Washington and could deter-

mine who wins the White House. We are

one nation; if we’re to aim at liberty and

justice for all, we need to do it together.

I am a transgender man who is currently

in medical school and at the point in my

training when I am seeing patients day to

day. I am also at the point in my physical

transition where no one would assume, or

even reasonably guess, that I am trans.

If a patient of mine expresses their

discomfort with trans people or a belief

that trans people are mentally unstable,

should I attempt to remove myself from

12 3.22.20 Illustration by Tomi Um

Illustration by Louise Zergaeng Pomeroy

The Ethicist By Kwame Anthony Appiah

To submit a query:

Send an email to

ethicist@nytimes

.com; or send mail

to The Ethicist, The

New York Times

Magazine, 620

Eighth Avenue, New

York, N.Y. 10018.

(Include a daytime

phone number.)

Riley writes: My

boyfriend and I have

a dispute about

the double-decker

sandwich. He argues

that the word ‘‘deck’’

is nautical and refers

to the flat, floorlike

bread. So a double-

decker is bread,

filling, bread, filling,

with no third bread-

deck on top. I argue

a double-decker is

bread, filling, bread,

filling, bread.

————

It has been years

since I offered a

ruling on sandwich-

ness. As you know,

a hot dog isn’t one,

and none of your

angry letters or

FedExes of poisonous

vipers will change

that fact. Same

goes here. I get your

boyfriend’s logic.

But no one ordering

a club sandwich

would expect a

regular sandwich

topped with a chef’s

salad. But take

heart, boyfriend!

You invented the

open-faced double-

decker and can now

open a fast-casual

restaurant called

Sundeckers that will

provide you lots of

local press and then

will probably close.

But it will be a fun

three months.

Bonus Advice

From Judge

John Hodgman

that patient’s care if at all possible?

Should I inform the patient that I am

trans and give them the option of choosing

another doctor? (On the latter, I would

lean toward not doing so, because I feel I

have a right to my privacy and because

my safety could easily be compromised

in my current work environment.)

I wish this were just a hypothetical,

but colleagues have informed me that they

have had patients make such comments

in the course of asking them routine

questions about how they would like to

be addressed or while taking a routine

sexual history. I have myself come close

to the situation they describe a few times,

particularly with adolescents with whom

our practice is to ask for their gender

identity when taking their social history.

Th is dilemma also raises questions

for my future as a provider when I may

fi nd myself in a situation where I can’t

reasonably extricate myself from the

patient’s care without impairing the

health care they receive. Do I then have

an obligation to reveal that I am trans?

Name Withheld

The details of your religious or ethnic

identity might make some of your patients

uncomfortable but are of no relevance to

your ability to serve them. The same goes

for the details of your gender identity. You

have no duty to tell them. They have no

right to ask. Transphobia isn’t a nut allergy

— your being transgender isn’t a hidden

danger that vulnerable people need to be

warned about. If patients somehow learn

that you’re transgender, and react with

prejudice, they are free to cease coming

to you for help. But you shouldn’t take the

initiative when it comes to indulging irra-

tional and regrettable preferences.

There are also circumstances in which

doctors eff ectively fi re patients they fi nd

intolerable — a diff erent kind of allergy

to nuts — and that’s acceptable when the

patient can fi nd care elsewhere. It’s com-

mon enough for physicians (members of a

profession that is something like 44 per-

cent nonwhite) to encounter vile remarks

with respect to their color, accent, pre-

sumed ancestry and the like. Misogy-

ny is hardly a rare condition, either. In

institutional settings, clinicians mostly

try to absorb the blows. Where possible,

though, hospitals and clinics should try

to accommodate staff members who want

Is It Wrong to Donate

To Candidates You Can’t

Vote Fo r?