Happy Pride Month!
I am a queer healthcare provider in the sense that I treat queer patients but also in the sense that I myself am queer. I am bisexual.
However, as a generally femme woman with a husband, I am usually interpreted by others as heterosexual. The path of least resistance is to just say nothing at all to challenge this assumption but I often feel guilty falling back into the closet. This is a struggle so many people face in a heteronormative world. So here I am, saying it loud and proud for the world to see.
LGBTQ patients have poorer health outcomes due to societal and medical discrimination. At its worst, this leads to neglect and denial of care which have an obvious effect. Subtler discrimination in the form of heteronormative bias (assuming that everyone is straight) or a provider being uncomfortable discussing sexuality can also cause negative health outcomes.
Research by Erin Fredericks “Being (in)visible in the clinic” validates the experience of queer and lesbian women specifically in the medical system. They explain the communication barrier and the added burden that is placed on patients with deciding whether or not to tell your provider, disclosing your sexuality in a doctor’s office, and then monitoring their response for any negative consequences. It is especially difficult for patients that are single or bisexual if they cannot rely on using partner pronouns as a signal. It is understandable that some people avoid healthcare all together to avoid these situations.
Their advice to healthcare providers is to take the initiative to openly discuss sexuality and clearly affirm acceptance with LGBTQ patients. Remaining neutral is not an option! Visual markers such as rainbow flags and pamphlets that feature queer people can also be helpful in communicating acceptance. I want to take this a step further by being transparent about my own sexuality as a provider.
I know that talking about Bi Erasure seems trivial at this time. Especially as this administration is actively trying to undermine hard-won protections for transgender people. I hope that being more open about my sexuality as a healthcare provider allows my patients the freedom to be more open with me in return. I hope it will challenge the assumptions and open doors for more LGBTQ acceptance. We are more powerful as a united LGBTQ community and I am part of that community.
(For any time travelers out there, this is written in 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and historic BLM protests.)