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Pride is Everywhere

 

Happy Pride Month! This year, it seems that the media has really picked up this term and run with it. But hey, when a door opens, you grab everyone around you and sprint through it. This month, I have taken time to reflect on the strong relationships that I have with many of my friends in the LGBTQ. Relationships that have withstood time, hardship, change, and suffering. The past fifteen years have brought some of the happiest times in my life, but without a doubt, I had to endure periods of time more terrible that I could ever imagine. During my darkest days when I wondered if I would even make it, my closest friends (in the LGBTQ community) where right by my side, telling me I would survive. Just the other week, it was my close friend who drove me to my surgery, nursing me back to health. Who takes care of the doctor when the doctor needs care is a running joke in my field, but the truthful answer to that question in my experience are the very few friends that I hold dear to my heart, many of whom are in the LGBTQ community,  

 During my hardest times, I questioned how they could be so sure that I would survive.   I now realize that most of them had their own major challenges. It has only become socially acceptable to be “proud” and loud about your sexuality in the recent decades. I can only imagine what it must have been like for my dear friends to grow up in this community in the south, having to hide, endure shame, wait for a brighter day. Some of my closest friends were exiled from their families forced to flee their homes. In many countries, homophobia even goes as far to force people to leave their countries to be with who they love.  

All this is to say that members of the LQBTQ community are some of the toughest and  most resilient people I know. I feel so honored to have had many of them spread that resilience onto me when I needed it most, and I will always be an ally of the community. 

Although the month is coming to a close, take time to appreciate the people who have helped you most and reflect on how they came to be so resilient. Pride Month is a special time of the year where we focus on the progress and express joy for the LGBTQ community. 

I believe that my practice is the most diverse practice in Tallahassee, FL. Our staff makes up a beautiful fusion of races, genders, cultures, nationalities, ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations. The different flags that are represented in my office are numerous and colorful, and for that, I am exceptionally grateful. This month, a colorful flag was celebrated across America and one that I am so very proud of. Happy Pride Month.