Hi y’all! I know it has been awhile since I have updated. Honestly, I have been working non-stop. When I last left you, I had just come back to fill in at Planned Parenthood because since Roe v. Wade was overturned, there has been an influx of patients coming from out of state for our services. This means there are just not enough staff to accommodate the need. I have worked over 40 hours these past two weeks (and loved every minute of it!! It is so good to be back caring for my patients!!!). I wasn’t supposed to start working until the end of September when my insurance from Doctors Without Borders runs out. But, I believe in the mission and the great resistance against racism and the patriarchy, so I have been driving all across the state of NC, back and forth to keep these clinics open.

I wanted to pop back in to give my opinion about the monkeypox outbreak that we are currently having. I want to give the caveat that this is my opinion. Yes, I am a medical professional, but because this is such a new disease (or at least the outbreak), there is so much we do not know about it. However, there has been some dangerous messaging that has been occurring in the media and on the news and I feel called to speak out against it. I know that sounds intense and maybe an overaction, but unfortunately, I do not believe it is so.

When Aids/HIV came to the US in the 1980s, people said it was a gay disease and it was brought on as a punishment from God to gay people. Many called it the gay plague. This stigma meant there was no money put into research for medication to treat the disease or to create a vaccine to prevent the disease. The medical community also did not understand what caused it or how to prevent it. This meant more and more from the gay community were dying. It was the great Holocaust of gay men and I hope we never forget it! Nancy and Ronald Reagan caused harm by not acknowledging the it and calling it a state of emergency. We lost an entire generation of gay men. We will forever be changed in our community because these men no longer exist.

Now we know that HIV is transmitted by blood and body fluids and anyone can get it. To contract HIV one does not need to be a man who has sex with men. It is the behavior that causes the illness, not the group of people because they deserve to die. So when the media (like Dan Savage, a cis/white/gay man who has a sex advice podcast) and people from MY community say that the medical community needs to be braver and call out gay men and tell them to be less promiscuous I get angry. The pitbull in me comes out and I mama bear the crap out of them. Gay men do not get monkeypox because they are gay; they get monkeypox because they are in close physical contact with many people. (Remember too, not all gay men have “promiscuous” sex. I personally know many gay, am actually friends with them, that have been in long-term monogamous relationships for many years! They do exist. Queer people come in all shapes and sizes! Please stop stereotyping us and trying to put us in a box)! I am saying all this to say, I am deeply concerned that this messaging is going to create another AIDS crisis. It will prevent research on how to treat and prevent the monkeypox disease. 

I am worried nothing will be done until it affects heterosexual people. I mean it already affects those who are most vulnerable. I have a friend who is a director of WIC in Maine who reminded me of the mostly single mother housekeepers, at an extremely high risk because they change the laundry of so many guests at their hotels and motels. These are people who should be getting vaccines right now! Yes, people who are having sex with many partners should be vaccinated. However, we cannot forget other risk factors for the disease! This is the basics of public health. We teach it to undergraduate students.

I have written this post after much contemplation because I know everyone has an opinion about everything these days and I wondered if airing mine publicly was even worth it. However, I am posting this here because I am a member of the queer community and also have my doctorate in nursing. I work as a Family Nurse Practitioner, caring for men who identify as gay. I treat sexually transmitted diseases and monkeypox has similar symptoms. I have to be informed as a healthcare provider so I can educate my patients on their risks. But I also know the harm that has been caused to my queer community by the same medical profession I belong to. I have a unique view. So, take what you like and leave the rest. But, I will continue to Mama Bear for my patients because they aren’t just my patients, they are my family.

I hope I am wrong. Good night my dear readers! I have so much more updates to share but I must go to bed. I do sleep sometimes!