LGBTQ doctors are leaving the Gulf South due to discrimination: ‘We weren’t welcome anymore’

Like most four-year-old kids, Connor Kleinmahon has a lot of toys. But in late August, he only had a few of them out to play with — a toy crane and some building blocks. The rest were packed away in moving boxes stacked along the cream-white walls of his home in Uptown New Orleans, forming a maze on the stained-wood floors. He and his family would be moving to New York the following week, leaving behind friends and neighbors — everything Connor has ever known.

Along with memories and community roots, the Kleinmahons also took valuable medical expertise with them. Connor’s dad, Dr. Jake Kleinmahon, is a pediatric cardiologist specializing in heart transplants for small children. He was one of only three in Louisiana, working for Ochsner Health System since 2018.

But Kleinmahon said that with the increase in anti-LGBTQ policies in Louisiana, he and his husband, Tom, felt it was no longer safe for them to raise young children here. He said the decision to leave was difficult, but it wasn’t hard for his kids to understand. His six-year-old daughter, Isabel, put it in plain terms when he broke the news to them.

“She recognized that we can't live in a state that's trying to make laws against our families,” Kleinmahon said. “When you break it down like that, even from a six-year-old, that's pretty simple.”