My Big Gay Autumn

I know, I know, I let you down, I didn’t post at all this September. It wasn’t for lack of activity. As reported in my previous post, I rotated through OUE. I did enjoy looking at retinas, tympanic membranes and bladders which, surprisingly, do resemble each other once magnified through one sort of scope or another. I was also “back-up” a good portion of the month, and as is my curse, it was overwhelmingly busy on the wards and I was called in most of my back up days, weekends included, to round and cover for other residents.

But… I also partook in some awesome band adventures! The LGBA had its annual conference over Labor Day weekend where I got to play both concert and marching gigs. New Orleans was gorgeous. If you hadn’t told me I would never had known the city was recently ravaged by a series of hurricanes. Apparently LGBA was the first marching band allowed in the French Quarter in more than 40 years (thanks to narrow streets and close quarters). In addition to the pure awesomeness of thousands of screaming fans (and yes, some nudity, some protesters, and a plethora of drag queens), some of my favorite things were: Beignets and iced coffee at Café Du Monde (pictured), Bananas Foster at Brennan’s (the inventors of the dessert!), gumbos, étouffées, crab, oysters and more oysters… in short, THE FOOD! The street music was also pretty amazing featuring predominately brass music. New Orleans deserved its own blog post but the trip was so crammed full of rehearsals and sweltering hot marching and dehydrated sun-stroked performances it just didn’t happen.

Here is a one of many YouTube video's made of our performance. I picked this one because it doesn't have all the expletives the other ones do.

(never mind on the imbedded video - formatting issues too frustrating to work out - try the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T0x36qWdM4)

[ Download ]

Two other awesome band events were with Renegayde Pep Band: Lullaby Moon and Seattle AIDS walk!

Lullaby Moon is awfully hard to describe. I tell people to imagine Lewis Carroll meets Julie Taymor. It's a performance art event that happens each new moon (for the last year) in Seattle. Funded, I think. by the City, by the UW Arts Department and well staffed, well executed and well attended. Renegayde was asked to play a "sleepwalking marching band" in their 12th and finale-esque installment. Attached is a picture a friend took (as I was busy performing) but go to their website to see some amazing pictures (or check out this from the Seattle PI) and maybe videos as well. It was breathtaking. The only damper on the whole event was that ultimately it ended up pouring rain. So we were frozen and wet to the bones by the end - yet people stayed to watch and enjoyed. Seattlites are a fun-loving and fearless bunch!

AIDS Walk was my first real gig with the organization last year and it was great to come back and do it again. Karin made a video of part of the gig and after she finishes it up and submits it (for a grant for our org!) maybe I can get permission to post it here. It is always wonderful to give back to the community and perform for such an important cause.

October, while not yet half over, has so far been an adventure the likes of which I haven’t had in some time! The last two days of September I head back East for my GLMA conference where I thoroughly enjoyed two days of engaging board meetings (seriously) followed by 3 days of conference programming where I presented twice: once on LGBT advocacy and once on transdermal estrogen in male-to-female transgender patients with clotting disorders (two obviously very different presentations). I went to several social events, rubbed elbows with some more famous individuals (Bishop Gene Robinson laughed at all my bad jokes, I like him!), made a few speeches, schmoozed and surprisingly rekindled a very old friendship with someone I had traveled with in Cameroon 12 years ago! I also lobbied on capitol hill, traipsing from senator to senator’s office making sure we don’t let health care reform go stale and letting them know about LGBT health disparities! LGBT folks are 2-3x more likely to be uninsured than their straight counterparts. Why? Think about it: the top two ways people get insurance are 1. From their employer and 2. From their spouse.

Some highlights from the conference:

-Did you know King James was not straight? Me either? Bishop Robinson was commenting on the irony of his bible being the one often used to prove homosexuality as a sin.

-One of Bishop Robinson’s best points is that homophobia (and to a larger extent, transphobia and violence) is really about the end of patriarchy, not so much LGBT acceptance. Men who don’t act like men or chose to become women are most brutalized and victimized.

-When it comes to LGBT Disparities, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin knows her shit (pardon my French, but it's true!)

-The following exchange was relayed to me. In true “Operator” fashion, the quotes are certainly not exact. Senators Kyl (R-male, Arizona) and Stabenow (D-female, Michigan) were both in a discussion about women’s health and maternity care and accessing prenatal care to prevent adverse outcomes in pregnancy. Senator Kyle: “Maternity care? I don’t need maternity care!” Senator Stabenow (dryly) “It appears your mother did.”

-There was a medical student who flew 36 hours from Perth, Australia to come to the conference. Proving my point that there remains a critical need for an LGBT Medical Organization!

After DC I took the Chinatown bus (another adventure in itself) to Philadelphia where I worked at the Mazzoni LGBT Health Center. At nights I stayed with a new friend from LGBA (who I marched with both in DC and in New Orleans) and her family of 4 (including husband, daughter and lovable 14-year-old Elkhound mix). Mazzoni was simply a fantastic experience. I got to work with HIV/AIDS patients. I drew blood, gave flu shots, did STD checks, transgender care, primary care, free adolescent clinic to mostly HIV+ homeless youth… at one point I thought to myself “ah, this is what it is like to actually make a difference!” I actually honestly LIKED my job! Go figure!

In case you haven’t noticed, residency has gone past rubbing me raw, now I seem to have ended up a huge callous. I think I need a good long soak to rid myself of it. Mazzoni was a nice break but I think I need more time to rediscover non-resident Liz. Still have my countdown going...

Hopefully the rest of my month will continue to bring me more smiles than piles. (Hm! I think I just made up a new saying!). And, who knows, maybe I’ll get another blog post in this month to make up for the last…