This Chicago area physician is increasing queer visibility using TikTok

For many of us in the LGBTQ’mmunity, the term healthcare feels like a cruel oxymoron. Who was meant to care for us during the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis? What is so healthy about a system that still rejects trans youth in vast swaths of the world?

Pardon the hell out of us if we’re not willing to overlook centuries of marginalization. Our dubiousness is earned.

But the best cure for ignorance is communication. Meet @ThatGayDoctor.

“So many of us can be out and proud in our lives, but feel like we have to mask our true identity in the workplace,” TGD tells BuzzFeed. “I think it comes out of fear of being met with homophobia, and I want to show people that it’s okay to be out and proud.”

The Chicago area physician is a picture of professionalism and Pride. He raps about using inclusive pronouns and eschewing judgment about sexual activity across the gender spectrum.

But ThatGayDoctor wasn’t always the confident caregiver who now dominates Instagram and TikTok.

“I didn’t come out to anyone until the last year of my undergrad. I had an awesome, supportive friend group, who made it clear via their social circles that they would be accepting of me being gay, but I still was in my head about it so much.”

Doubt is often the unwelcome copilot who joins us on our emergence from the closet.

“I wish I had been able to accept my sexual orientation at a younger age, and often wonder about how it would have impacted my life trajectory. Of course, I think things worked out pretty well, but there will always be the ‘what ifs’ that I wonder about.”

But there are no ifs about TGD’s popularity. He is a bona fide viral sensation – an odd distinction for someone who fights viruses for a living.

“I want to increase queer visibility using TikTok in order to show everyone that you can balance being a respectable professional while also being your authentic self,” declares the empathetic influencer.

“I know that the platform is largely targeted toward youth, and I want anyone who is struggling with accepting their identity to see that you can be out and proud and thriving in life.”

After years of division and derision, ThatGayDoctor is precisely the prescription we need. Let the societal healing commence.