Because Life is Amazing and We Can: My 5th Capital TransPride

2017.05.20 Capital TransPride Washington, DC USA 5127
With Vanessa and Ellie Ford – Photographer Credit – Ronnie Ford 🙂 2017.05.20 Capital TransPride Washington, DC USA 5127 (View on Flickr.com)
I didn’t take the photograph above – it was taken by Ronnie Ford, Ellie Ford’s older brother. He wanted to take some photos and he knows what he’s doing, so why not?

Ronnie and Ellie were at Capital TransPride (@TransPrideDC) this weekend, with their mother and father, Vanessa (@VanessaFordDC) and JR (@CrunchyDCGuy). The Ford family have been visible leaders (see these links to multiple national media outlets covering their story) in one of the most defining social movements our time. Their work is as valuable if not more than any physician’s in promoting health and long lives for LGBTQ human beings.

Health and Healing

2017.05.20 Capital TransPride Washington, DC USA 5250
They see us. @WhitmanWalker lights up Washington, DC in the colors of the transgender pride flag. 2017.05.20 Capital TransPride Washington, DC USA 5250 (View on Flickr.com)

It’s what it felt like to be at Capital TransPride, now my 5th in a row. There was both the image of health and healing. This was the first year that Kaiser Permanente formally introduced a comprehensive transgender health program to these communities. Not one but four Permanente physicians (@PermanenteDocs) were present, along with therapists, researchers, and other health leaders. Whitman Walker Health (@WhitmanWalker), a national leader in transgender person health, and LGBTQ health in general, was also present (of course).

Whitman Walker also treated Washington, DC to a transgender pride flag light show from the windows of its health center, in one of the busiest night time corridors in the city. This is not the first time that Whitman Walker has done what the White House wasn’t able to in being a leader for health. I’ll be posting about that this week.

The world is learning to love better.

Leadership and Much Much More to do

2017.05.20 Capital TransPride Washington, DC USA 5129
On May 16, 2017, Kaiser Permanente signed the friend of the court brief for Gavin Grimm in Grimm vs Gloucester County School Board. The nurses, doctors, therapists, researchers, and people who power Kaiser Permanente met Gavin and gave him a hug on behalf of the organization.
2017.05.20 Capital TransPride Washington, DC USA 5129 (View on Flickr.com)

At the same time, these are communities whose health and life trajectory are under threat, as told by Vanessa and Ron Ford as well as Gavin Grimm (@GavinGrimmVA) whose School Board worked to socially isolate transgender children based on non-scienced based views of reality.

We are also nearing the 1 year anniversary of the massacre of 49 human beings in Orlando, Florida, based on their identities as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. What we do here matters.

I was asked by an attendee how a busy doctor would have time to be part of Capital TransPride, and my answer is that health is what a doctor is supposed to be busy doing 🙂 .

My photographs are below, and I have a few more things to post in the next day(s). With thanks to the gracious hosts at Studio Theatre (@Studio_Theatre) – not only was the space this year amazing, but the lighting inside a place built for art makes for beautiful pictures as well.

Ted Eytan, MD