Samantha Mauser

Its funny how certain people are

About a life they have never lived

I wonder what their ideal work looks like

I have a feeling it would be a very boring world

A world with one color

A world where no one dares to challenge the status quo

I much prefer the world we live in today

The world of rainbows and resilience

However this world is only allowed in pockets and patches

A glimpse of what the world could look like

While the world frowns and judges and wrinkles its nose

The community grows letters, strength, and resilience

People will say the population is vulnerable

But truly, they are the strongest group of people alive

I had the pleasure of interviewing one of our preceptors for this storytelling project. He talking

about what it was like to come out as gay after being raised in a Catholic household. He

discussed the internal and external stigma that members of the LGBTQ community face and

how that impacts access and trust to the healthcare system. He also described how painful it is

for him when people refer to discriminated populations as “vulnerable.” When in fact these

populations are the most resilient group of people in the world. I am impressed with his strength

and humor despite the infrequent, yet constant blatant discrimination and stigma that he faces.