The Nonbinary Physician Activist: “Do No Harm” Implies Equity as the Outcome.
Gender nonconformity and outspoken nonbinary voices are stigmatized in medical professionalism. Anti-LGBTQ climates in healthcare and research settings are psychological iatrogenesis which require structural changes to avoid further malpractice. Academic medicine should take largescale and immediate action based on lessons learned from the lived expertise and the paid work being performed by activist and social justice thought leaders. Intersectional, community-based participation, autonomy, and ethical representation should be standard in all components of clinical care and research. This is especially true in post-pandemic practice, in which historically-oppressed communities’ trust in our healthcare system continues to decline. We must move focus of translational care “from bench to bedside to embrace,” and we should target equity as our main quality assurance outcome.
Originally Posted in: Harvard Public Health Review: Edition 42