The Christian organization “Gideons International,” known for distributing Bibles to hospitals and hotels across the country, has been banned from a large hospital system in Georgia due to “diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.”
Gideons is now blocked from servicing the Phoebe Putney Health, a hospital that serves over 40 counties in the state of Georgia.
According to the Daily Wire, the organization was first banned from the hospital during COVID due to restrictions, but wasn’t allowed back in once they were relaxed.
The Gideons reported they were told their work was a “violation of the DEI policy and they would no longer be allowed” into the facilities.
Report from the Daily Wire:
Neither Phoebe’s communications team nor its chief DEI officer responded to multiple requests for comments. Scott Steiner, the CEO of Phoebe, is aware of the exclusion of the Gideons from Phoebe facilities, as are several members of the board of the health system, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The source said that hospital policies started to take a leftward drift when Phoebe brought on Steiner as CEO back in 2019, which is evidenced by the fact that he has pushed DEI principles throughout the health system since taking the helm of Phoebe. Steiner is a member of the Georgia Diversity Council, which describes itself as the “premier resource for diversity best practices and leadership development in the state of Georgia.”
In previous comments, Steiner has said that his staff managers are not diverse enough and that he would take the lead on changing that.
“We have an incredibly vibrant and diverse workforce that is representative of the communities we serve,” he said at the health system’s diversity council’s first meeting in January 2022. “In some areas of our organization — like on our management team — that diversity has been less evident, and we are committed to looking at ways to making meaningful change.”
He added that looking at the diversity situation at Phoebe “might make me a little uncomfortable, but if we’re not dealing with discomfort head-on, then we’re not diving in deeply and honestly enough.”
