The start of June sees a metamorphosis come to light in our everyday activities — from opening your web browser and seeing a rainbow flag on the front page, to the campaign banners that appear seemingly overnight in colorful alliance.
But it wasn’t always like this.
Decades ago, Pride Month used to be viewed as a glimpse into the counterculture, one that many wished to be hidden away or abolished. Even now, we see protests and public diatribes that echo with the bigotry and antiquated fears from before. But despite these efforts, we see how the LGBTQ+ community has persisted in their resilience and made great strides in supporting each other in their fundamental desire to be seen and simply exist.
As far as we’ve come, there is still much further to go — especially when it comes to health care. Time and again, surveys have shown that many LGBTQ+ members carry collective trauma with them and find they cannot be open about their sexual orientations with health care providers. Indeed, LGBTQ+ people face difficulties in accessing appropriate care, resulting in disparities in comorbidities and mortality that overshadow the general population. This spans multiple levels and often compounds the problem. They may face discrimination and a lack of empathetic, cultural competency with physicians. In fact, LGBTQ+-supportive physicians are often advertised by word of mouth, for all their rarity. Also, a lack of coordination between separate health care providers prevents members of the LGBTQ+ community from being able to receive comprehensive general and reproductive health care. How would you feel if you had to come out to every new doctor you saw, not knowing if they would treat you with respect? And on a public and more sweeping scope, the LGBTQ+ population faces growing hurdles in legislation that seeks to limit their autonomy and access to basic human rights — a conflict shared by both women and minoritized populations in today’s climate.
Pride Month is a testimony to the progress that the LGBTQ+ population has made, built upon the sacrifices that often came at great costs. And so, as we enter June, take time to both celebrate and root yourselves in your convictions — we can accomplish a great number of things by holding each other up, instead of breaking each other down.
— Submitted by Rommel Cruz Morales, fourth-year medicine student and member of the Medical Student Pride Alliance student group