LGBT at DO schools

[ahawke100]

Hey everyone,

As a gay male, I'm curious as to how other members of the lgbt community who attend DO programs percieve their accptance on campus. I'll be applying broadly this up coming cycle.

For me, being gay is very personal, and don't feel the need let my sexual orientation be overtly known, but also don't want to be in a hostile environment where I felt I couldn't share this aspect of my personal life. I don't expect to avoid adversity entirely, but would like to hear any positive and/or negative experiences others have had at various programs.

I'd be especially curious to hear stories from students at schools such as LUCOM.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SLC]

LUCOM hasn't matriculated a class to my knowledge, so nobody will have any experiences there yet.

In general, it will probably depend on the geographic location of the school to some degree. I wouldn't expect the greatest experience at say WCU-COM as an example.

But by and large, DO classes are fairly diverse in terms of the cultural and religious(or non-religious) backgrounds of the people they admit. My class had people from all over the country, from a variety of different backgrounds, and everyone got along for the most part.

 

[DO2015CA]

most medical students are educated enough to be open minded. It will be the community that presents a problem if any, and which medical student has the time to spend an extensive amount of time in the community. lol

 

[deleted480308]

Most people are too busy studying to care at all about your personal life. No matter your demographic, you'll find someone everywhere you go that isn't a fan of you, so don't worry about other people.

 

[TeddyBoomBoom]

LUCOM hasn't matriculated a class to my knowledge, so nobody will have any experiences there yet.

In general, it will probably depend on the geographic location of the school to some degree. I wouldn't expect the greatest experience at say WCU-COM as an example.

But by and large, DO classes are fairly diverse in terms of the cultural and religious(or non-religious) backgrounds of the people they admit. My class had people from all over the country, from a variety of different backgrounds, and everyone got along for the most part.

I am current student at Carey, and I really don't think my classmates could possibly care less about our classmates race/gender/orientation. WCU-COM does *not* equal Liberty lol.

 

[cliquesh]

I think close to 10% of my class was homosexual. No one seemed to care. There are a lot of openly gay physicians, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[deleted407021]

@touchpause13 is always insightful on LGBT issues.

 

[touchpause13]

Cute puppy!
So I'm a first year queer I had a bit of a rough start with this. It's always really hard to come out to new people and I was scared of people being dicks about it basically. As of now I'm out to everyone here who I am friends with and I don't really make any attempt to hide it. I haven't had any trouble in that department since I've told people.
So yeah I would be aware of that and just that med school tends to be a very heteronormative environment. While you probably won't find as many overt homophobes as much as people who have been very sheltered and are often clueless about gay issues.

So being LGBTQWSRDSKU in med school isn't always the greatest I would say that most environments aren't going to be openly hostile outside of LUCOM. Otherwise I would also suggest aiming for schools in relatively gay friendly cities

 

[Anthonyweiner]

Hey everyone,

As a gay male, I'm curious as to how other members of the lgbt community who attend DO programs percieve their accptance on campus. I'll be applying broadly this up coming cycle.

For me, being gay is very personal, and don't feel the need let my sexual orientation be overtly known, but also don't want to be in a hostile environment where I felt I couldn't share this aspect of my personal life. I don't expect to avoid adversity entirely, but would like to hear any positive and/or negative experiences others have had at various programs.

I'd be especially curious to hear stories from students at schools such as LUCOM.

Hi, I am a current student here at LUCOM. Our class is very diverse in terms of religious beliefs and background as well as sexual orientation. The two gay people I know personally here have had no trouble making friends, fitting in, etc. They chose the school mainly for its location so were initially concerned about being persecuted at a christian school. But like someone else said, we are all professional and way too busy to care about someones sexual orientation.

 

[allantois]

Don't go to LUCOM if you are LGBT. Why would you do that to yourself?

 

[Stagg737]

I don't think this would be a problem in med school. You may encounter a few hostile individuals, but as a community I think med students are usually pretty open and accepting of others from different situations. We have a transgender student who has a gofundme for top surgery right now that a lot of students on our campus have supported. How you deal with the situation is up to you, but I don't think you should feel afraid of being yourself at any school you attend.

On a side note, your dog is awesome. It looks like a black(?) version of my guy (he's orangeish blonde).

 

[ahawke100]

Don't go to LUCOM if you are LGBT. Why would you do that to yourself?

I don't plan to, but mentioned LUCOM specifically as I could imagine there would be the most prejudice here out of anywhere.

I'm definitely getting some good insight here!

 

[ahawke100]

I don't think this would be a problem in med school. You may encounter a few hostile individuals, but as a community I think med students are usually pretty open and accepting of others from different situations. We have a transgender student who has a gofundme for top surgery right now that a lot of students on our campus have supported. How you deal with the situation is up to you, but I don't think you should feel afraid of being yourself at any school you attend.

On a side note, your dog is awesome. It looks like a black(?) version of my guy (he's orangeish blonde).

Thanks for this! It's good to hear about the situation at your campus. I went from a not-so-accepting high school to a very accepting college, so I've personally grown comfortable with who I am, but would like to avoid the hostile environment I came from as much as possible.

Thank you! It's hard to see from the picture, but she's dark brown. Great dog. I hope yours is a little more sane than mine!

 

[Stagg737]

Thanks for this! It's good to hear about the situation at your campus. I went from a not-so-accepting high school to a very accepting college, so I've personally grown comfortable with who I am, but would like to avoid the hostile environment I came from as much as possible.

Thank you! It's hard to see from the picture, but she's dark brown. Great dog. I hope yours is a little more sane than mine!

High school sucks, by the time you get to med school a lot of people have matured and a lot of intolerance has been weeded out. My dog is awesome, but he is a nutcase. Not ideal for med school, but I love him.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Hey everyone,

As a gay male, I'm curious as to how other members of the lgbt community who attend DO programs percieve their accptance on campus. I'll be applying broadly this up coming cycle.

For me, being gay is very personal, and don't feel the need let my sexual orientation be overtly known, but also don't want to be in a hostile environment where I felt I couldn't share this aspect of my personal life. I don't expect to avoid adversity entirely, but would like to hear any positive and/or negative experiences others have had at various programs.

I'd be especially curious to hear stories from students at schools such as LUCOM.

I would stick with friendly areas. Most schools will be accepting but the area might not be (which us also important). Some schools to consider:

Touro CA/NY/nv
Western U
Nova
NYIT
PCOM
Lecom bradenton
CCOM/AZCOM
Atsu soma
Rowansom
RVU

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I think your chances of seeing issues come up has less to do with the students or the administration at your average DO school, but more with the environment around the school and the people you may bump heads with when and

Sorry to say this, but rural areas probably aren't going to be as welcoming to someone who is gay. And while you're not overtly gay ( whatever the legitimate hell that means (I'll also avoid lecturing on why this is also disingenuous language as well) it's hard to not appear gay when you've got a boyfriend or partner. So it's better to avoid strongly rural schools.

 

[NontradCA]

And while you're not overtly gay ( whatever the legitimate hell that means (I'll also avoid lecturing on why this is also disingenuous language as well) it's hard to not appear gay when you've got a boyfriend or partner. So it's better to avoid strongly rural schools.

How bout letting him define himself how he wants to? Dat politcal correctness just went full ******. Please, we don't need to turn everything into something. Which brings me to the OP: no one cares. Srs.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

How bout letting him define himself how he wants to? Dat politcal correctness just went full ******. Please, we don't need to turn everything into something. Which brings me to the OP: no one cares. Srs.

Meh, I tend to always be offended when heteronormality clauses are put into places. Whether or not we want to admit, it does legitimatize the notion that if you don't act a certain that you deserve to be hurt or be afraid.

But anywho, lets avoid this conversation. I'm not in a particularly fine mood for such discussions tonight.

 

[NontradCA]

Meh, I tend to always be offended when heteronormality clauses are put into places. Whether or not we want to admit, it does legitimatize the notion that if you don't act a certain that you deserve to be hurt or be afraid.

But anywho, lets avoid this conversation. I'm not in a particularly fine mood for such discussions tonight.

Yea well, you can't change how someone feels, so no use getting worked up about it. I suppose I'm the same way on some issues, admittedly. Sorry for jumping on you.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Yea well, you can't change how someone feels, so no use getting worked up about it. I suppose I'm the same way on some issues, admittedly. Sorry for jumping on you.

No worries, medical schools probably going to make me jump on half the people on this board more than usual too.

 

[touchpause13]

No worries, medical schools probably going to make me jump on half the people on this board more than usual too.

I know that feel

 

[DocWinter]

No one really cares about other students personal lives. And those that do probably won't say anything. I have gay classmates and it's a complete non-issue all around.
As for the rural vs big city, IDK, you'll spend so much time studying and in class anyway that you'll probably not interact with the world enough to make a difference for a couple years.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

No one really cares about other students personal lives. And those that do probably won't say anything. I have gay classmates and it's a complete non-issue all around.
As for the rural vs big city, IDK, you'll spend so much time studying and in class anyway that you'll probably not interact with the world enough to make a difference for a couple years.

Idk, getting dinner or going to a movie with your partner once in a while does a decent amount of telegraphing and can eventually get a few unpleasant situations.

But that's life. Everyone likes to have an opinion about other people's lives no matter how little it affects theirs.