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Gay and lesbian doctors find a voice

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  • 27-04-2010 10:12am
    #1
    MicraBoy
    Registered Users Posts: 916 ✭✭✭


    As someone looking to get into Graduate Medicine I think this is great! To be honest the few gay/bi doctors I have encountered were very closeted and seemed scared of being out in their profession. (Posted link to this thread in Health Sciences also)

    IrishTimes.com

    Gay and lesbian doctors find a voice
    MICHELLE McDONAGH

    A NEW organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) doctors and medical students in Ireland is to hold its first agm in Dublin next month.

    Gay Doctors Ireland (GDI) was set up in December to provide an educational, professional and social support network for LGBT doctors working in the Irish health services.

    Founder member, Dr Conor Malone of Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, explained that equivalent organisations were already running in the UK, Europe and the US and there was a real need for support for Irish LGBT doctors. He said it was not known how many LGBT doctors were currently working in Ireland and this was an issue GDI would have to address. The group has recruited 40 members through its website (gaydoctorsireland.ie) in the past month and there are many others involved with GDI who have not yet become members.

    Dr Malone said: “I think in general LGBT professionals face similar issues across the board which they encounter in college and the workplace. For LGBT doctors, medicine has traditionally been a very conservative working environment, particularly in the hospitals.

    “Medicine is so racially diverse, people are so integrated in other ways . . . it seems the last bastion of the old medical hierarchy is for LGBT doctors to be accepted. It is happening, very slowly but surely.”

    Gay Doctors Ireland’s first agm will take place at 7pm on Saturday, May 8th in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8. For details or to register, go to gaydoctorsireland.ie


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    #2
    L1011
    Registered Users Posts: 68,704 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    Any ones I've met through work (work in the medical sector, not clinical staff though) were also very closeted, seems to be up there as one of the last professions where you can't be seen to be gay in Ireland.


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    #3
    Jessibelle
    Registered Users Posts: 1,761 ✭✭✭Jessibelle


    MYOB wrote: »
    seems to be up there as one of the last professions where you can't be seen to be gay in Ireland.

    Is there any particular reason why this is the case?


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    #4
    Nean
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭Nean


    MYOB wrote: »
    seems to be up there as one of the last professions where you can't be seen to be gay in Ireland.

    didn't realise things were so bad. as a med student this sickens me.


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    #5
    Psychedelia
    Registered Users Posts: 130 ✭✭Psychedelia


    Is there any particular reason why this is the case?

    Probably because its a hierarchical system with alot of old blood. Change takes ages. And I think there are many professionals in many disciplines that would never wish to be known as G/L.

    I do hope the situation improves somewhat by the time i become part of the ranks of the infamous irish health service.


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    #6
    Breezer
    Registered Users Posts: 3,228 ✭✭✭Breezer


    Jessibelle wrote: »
    Is there any particular reason why this is the case?
    You can still legally be fired from a religious-run hospital for being gay.


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    #7
    L1011
    Registered Users Posts: 68,704 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    ...And while down the country most hospitals are state-run, in Dublin the vast majority of them are religious order controlled. Add to that the largest private hospital chain also being religious order controlled...

    Also I'd expect an out GP might lose some patients.


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    #8
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    Breezer wrote: »
    You can still legally be fired from a religious-run hospital for being gay.

    Not for being gay; for undermining the religious ethos of the hospital

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #9
    Breezer
    Registered Users Posts: 3,228 ✭✭✭Breezer


    Johnnymcg wrote: »
    Not for being gay; for undermining the religious ethos of the hospital
    True, but do you think for one moment that being a "practicing homosexual" wouldn't be viewed as such?


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    #10
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    Breezer wrote: »
    True, but do you think for one moment that being a "practicing homosexual" wouldn't be viewed as such?
    Yes I do, in some cases it would be, in some cases it wouldn't - managers in religious run hospitals are not all nuns and priests

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #11
    The_Minister
    Registered Users Posts: 10,255 ✭✭✭✭The_Minister


    Breezer wrote: »
    True, but do you think for one moment that being a "practicing homosexual" wouldn't be viewed as such?

    By and large they don't seem to dismiss people - possibly to avoid negative media coverage.

    I'd say you'd have to walking around in a pink doctor's coat before they interfered with you.


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    #12
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    The_Minister wrote: »
    By and large they don't seem to dismiss people - possibly to avoid negative media coverage.

    I'd say you'd have to walking around in a pink doctor's coat before they interfered with you.

    The issue is of course not mainly dismissal but employment in the first place

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #13
    Breezer
    Registered Users Posts: 3,228 ✭✭✭Breezer


    Johnnymcg wrote: »
    The issue is of course not mainly dismissal but employment in the first place
    You're probably right. 'Employment in the first place' tends to happen quite a lot in medicine though: non-consultant hospital doctors move to new posts in new hospitals every 6 months to a year. So there's really no opportunity to get to know a place, know the people involved, and become comfortable enough to be out in that particular hospital, safe in the knowledge that you won't be thrust into a far more hostile situation a few months down the line.
    Johnnymcg wrote:
    Yes I do, in some cases it would be, in some cases it wouldn't - managers in religious run hospitals are not all nuns and priests
    True, but some are. And the hospital boards aren't the only problem. You have to consider the insane amount of power a single consultant with an attitude problem can wield over an NCHD and his/her entire future career in this country (I'll refer you to this thread - do a find in page for 'consultant' a few times). This is a problem for all doctors, not just LGBT ones, but you certainly wouldn't want to be giving them any extra ammunition.


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    #14
    IrishTonyO
    Registered Users Posts: 2,321 ✭✭✭IrishTonyO


    I really thing organisations like these are counter productive. They want to be treated equally so they set up an organisation that separates them from other colleagues and creates a barrier. I just don't get it


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    #15
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    IrishTonyO wrote: »
    I really thing organisations like these are counter productive. They want to be treated equally so they set up an organisation that separates them from other colleagues and creates a barrier. I just don't get it

    How does it create a barrier?

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #16
    IrishTonyO
    Registered Users Posts: 2,321 ✭✭✭IrishTonyO


    Johnnymcg wrote: »
    How does it create a barrier?

    It creates a separate group within a group that's how. If there was an organisation for straight doctors only what would you think?


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    #17
    MatthewVII
    Registered Users Posts: 825 ✭✭✭MatthewVII


    It's not a group to distance themselves from straight doctors, its a support network. it's not for functional separation from anyone else in medicine in any way. Why on earth would you think that?

    If you were to join a sports club in college, would that be trying to distance yourself from everyone in the college who doesn't do GAA/rugby etc? Same thing. People who have something in common getting together.

    Believe it or not, medicine is still a pretty challenging environment to be gay in, though it is improving. It can only be positive for their to be an increase in presence of gay doctors.


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    #18
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 41,062 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    IrishTonyO wrote: »
    It creates a separate group within a group that's how. If there was an organisation for straight doctors only what would you think?

    That doesn't answer my question - how is a barrier created by created a group?

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #19
    AnBealBocht
    Registered Users Posts: 231 ✭✭AnBealBocht


    < www.GLMA.org >

    Some of you might find their/our content of some interest, especially if some of you physicians/MDs and/or medical students come to US for training, etc.


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    #20
    AnBealBocht
    Registered Users Posts: 231 ✭✭AnBealBocht


    Nean wrote: »
    didn't realise things were so bad. as a med student this sickens me.

    Ah! If only you knew what it was like in Dublin & at Med. School then! We survived and prospered, though.

    Join the new gay doctors of Ireland group and have a voice.

    --- MD, B.Ch., BAO.


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