LGVMA's GOOD NEWS!
originally printed in October 1998 issue
Gay Veterinarians Talk About Coming Out
If you read the article in the last issue of Good News! entitled, "When to Come Out at Work," you'll remember the general recommendation was to wait until you have earned your boss's respect as a veterinarian. During the AVMA Annual Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, July 25-29, I spoke with several gay veterinarians on the subject.
The consensus among those I talked with was this: the most important factors which influence the decision if and when to come out in one's professional life are your geographic location and the personality of the people with whom you work.
On condition of anonymity, I spoke with Dr. Smith (not his real name), an epidemiologist working with his state's Department of Health. According to Smith, "being in the health department, they've been forced to deal with it because of AIDS." He also revealed that about one-fourth of his department is gay.
It wasn't always so easy for Smith. As a veterinary student in the early 90's, he was faced with being alone in a homophobic environment. "No one else was out. I was (out) to people I knew."
Smith recalls various discriminatory incidents while in vet school. "People would make remarks to me. At one time I was nominated for a committee office and one guy stood up and yelled, 'Smith is a fag!'" Certain faculty made inappropriate comments as well. According to Smith, they would refer to him as a fag or make distasteful jokes in his presence. "No one would stand up to them," he says.
Smith's HIV positive status further complicated his situation. He began a new regimen of drug therapy during his junior year. One day in surgery class, he was feeling ill as a result of the drugs. He confided in his surgery partner, whom he thought was a friend, why he wasn't feeling well, revealing his HIV status. She threatened to either tell the Dean, the whole class...she even threatened to file a lawsuit. Luckily a supportive faculty member, who was aware of Smith's HIV status, stepped in and explained the true risks and facts about transmission. "She nipped it in the bud," recalls Smith.
Since he left vet school, Smith says he has heard that gay and lesbian faculty and students have organized and adds, "It sounds like a different place."
Smith's first job was in a gay neighborhood within an economically depressed area. Since he knew people who had worked there, he "checked it out first to get a sense of things." His only concern was his boss, who was an ex-military man. But, "he turned out to be a great man and teacher," says Smith.
So, with the assistance of a few members of the panel and audience, he decided to help start a support group on the St. Paul campus. Someone from the campus newspaper saw a flyer and called him requesting an interview. Before he knew it he had come out to the entire university.
"There were a lot of heated discussions that went on behind my back, but by that point I already knew who my friends were," says Vassey. Later that same year, he wrote an article in SAVMA about coming out in veterinary school. "Overall" he says, "it went pretty well. I once had a professor make a snide comment in lecture. I called him on it, and he apologized."
Following graduation, Vassey applied for a job back in his home state of South Carolina. When the contact for the position, a lesbian shareholder of the clinic, saw his resume she recommended removing a reference to his involvement with the LGVMA. He decided to leave it. Vassey got the job, despite the LGVMA mention on his resume, but the shareholder later told him it had almost cost him the position.
Closeted On The Job
Five years after graduation, he built his own practice in the southwestern part of Michigan but wasn't out to any co-workers or employees. "I had a few gay friends and that was it. I had a second life really, which isn't too different than today. I have a professional and a private life."
While Jones says he doesn't see any reason to advertise his sexual orientation and advises gay veterinary graduates to "prove yourself as a good vet," he has struggled with his decision to remain relatively closeted.
After selling his practice in 1986, Jones went to work for the State. Last year an outside facilitator was hired to work with the group on team building and priority setting, meeting several times during a nine month time period. After several sessions, Jones and the facilitator were speaking privately when the facilitator asked him if he was gay. The facilitator said he had made his deduction from several facts Jones had volunteered: 45-years-old... a bachelor....vacationing in Key West.
Perhaps most troubling, the facilitator also remarked that several employees had confided that they didn't feel their boss was completely honest with them on all issues. Jones and the facilitator discussed the various issues involved with coming out at work, including the wall one may be building between oneself and one's staff and co-workers by not being completely honest. After considering his professional position and his personal concerns, Jones ultimately decided to keep his private life private. Today Jones firmly stands by his decision saying, "I wasn't hiding anything. I just didn't volunteer anything either."
Personal Choices
As in the heterosexual community, an employee must first earn the respect of his/her co-workers and employer by performing their professional duties well. After establishing one's professionalism, then coming out decisions can be made.
How much to tell? Too much, too soon, can make everyone uncomfortable. But too little, too late, can create walls and distrust within the workplace. Perhaps with increased visibility, through courageous individuals and professional organizations such as the LGVMA, gay and lesbian professionals may someday be able to comfortably and safely merge their private and professional lives.
-- Michelle Jack, OSU
Dr. Mel Vassey, who was a veterinary student during roughly the same time period as Smith, had a very different experience. During his junior year at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, Vassey attended a "Coming Out Week" panel of professional and graduate students on the main campus. To his surprise, all the members of the panel were from the Minneapolis campus, while none were from the St. Paul campus where the veterinary school is located. "I raised my hand and asked, 'Why is there nobody from the St. Paul campus?'" recalls Vassey.
In contrast to Smith and Vassey, who both attended vet school in the early 90's, Dr. Jones (not his real name) was completely closeted at vet school during the early 70's. Today Jones looks back at his days in vet school and says; "It wasn't mentioned. I absolutely had my nose in a book and that was it. I didn't go out."
In addition to where you live and with whom you work, one's individual personality certainly plays a part in how "out" you are in the workplace. Testing the waters first, if you know someone who already works there, is a safe option.