when i saw that the "duck dynasty" guy had been fired from his show, i cringed. i knew it would set off an unnecessary firestorm about gays and give anti-homos more fuel to rally behind. A&E can do whatever the hell they want with their stars, but i don't think it is doing the "gay agenda" any favors to have him suspended. far better would it have been for them to make a statement saying they don't support his views and then maybe have an episode next season or something where this family meets some 'normal' homos and have a dialogue about that. now it's just gonna be a cluster on the media cycle for the next few days and neither side will have changed their views on anything.

i often wonder what patients would think if they knew about my private life. we as doctors get to know so much about a patient's personal life, yet it's a real one-way street. would it really matter to you what you knew about your doctor's personal life? it shouldn't, but i've always been interested to know if any of my patients would treat or interact with me any differently if they knew that what i was looking forward to after work is sucking a big fat dick. the patient/doctor relationship is really complex and so many subtle things can change the interaction dramatically, so would my sexuality be one of those things? i usually get along pretty well with my patients, so i wonder what a little randomized trial of patients knowing my preference vs. not knowing would have on their overall opinion after their evaluation. and if they were really critically ill and there were no one else around, would they consent to be treated by me? i bet there are some people out there who would rather die than be treated by a homo. but what about the opposite, what if a gay-hater had their life saved and then at the end found out it was because a gay doc had helped them? would their whole world be turned upside down? who knows.

it is interesting that while i could face discrimination from my patients, i could never do the same in reverse. can you imagine the shitstorm that would happen if some doctor refused to treat a woman, a christian, an anti-semitic, a racist, a prostitute, a drunk, a homeless, a lesbian, a morbidly obese, or whatever? we no matter what are supposed to be a neutral party and every patient that walks in we treat the same regardless of what their personal life or views are like. and really shouldn't that be the way it is for everyone?