CFPC Pride

The launch of CFPC Pride this month, coupled with this special issue of Canadian Family Physician, presents a momentous occasion for reflection for all of us in the family medicine community.

We know that relationships are central to life, and that love is perhaps the most fundamental emotion—it drives the creation and maintenance of relationships and fosters the self-confidence in one’s identity that permits healthy participation and resilience in the face of day-to-day challenges.

Relationships are uniquely central to the practice of comprehensive family medicine. We know that the doctor-patient relationship and continuity are critical to effective care; we also know from the teachings of Dr Ian McWhinney that an understanding and integration of context is crucial—we are treating individuals as well as the families, networks, and communities of which they are part.¹

I find it fitting that the CFPC, through the work of our 2SLGBTQ+ Health Member Interest Group and our board, has given us the opportunity to reflect on such fundamental tenets of our individual and collective societal well-being. Yet I also know that the choice to celebrate is also an affirmation of the work that is left to be done.

In this issue’s guest editorial (page 377), Drs Andrew J. Organek and Thea Weisdorf have outlined the current state of 2SLGBTQ+ health and health care in Canada, with focuses on barriers to care and how family doctors can make their day-to-day practices more accepting and champion broader system-level changes and solutions.² They explain that many 2SLGBTQ+ patients may delay or avoid seeking services owing to having previously experienced discrimination, transphobia, or homophobia, and that when they do seek services, they may choose not to disclose their status, meaning they do not receive appropriate care.

Family doctors, as with other health care providers, have a duty to understand the health care needs of 2SLGBTQ+ patients to ensure that these are effectively met. We are also reminded of the critical work that must be done by society at large to unlearn thinking and undo systems that perpetuate historic inequities and disparities, and to collaborate in finding solutions to these challenges.

We must not forget that discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation remains widespread around the world. People should not face harm or risk criminalization because of who they are or whom they love.

For this reason, among all of the various initiatives under way at the College right now, it was most exciting to see our staff, leadership, and board come together to speak with one voice on the matter. CFPC Pride is about recognizing the fundamental right that everyone has to be themselves, and to love whom they choose in what manner they see fit, without imposition or expectation—and to be able to access the care they need in an equitable manner.

There are, to be sure, more challenges ahead—change is definitely difficult—but the CFPC is also hearing loud and clear through our strategic plan consultations and our Listening + Learning initiative that equity, diversity, and inclusion continue to be at the forefront of our members’ minds. In many ways, I see this as reflecting the strong bent for caring for all comers with which many family doctors approach practice—and a recognition of our moral duty to advance the interests of groups that have, for so long, been at the margins as a result of historic injustices.

To that end, CFPC Pride is the beginning of a crucial dialogue around practice and advocacy, but also around the College’s own evolution in supporting greater equity in policy and access to care. The contexts in which our patients live have implications for the care we are able to provide and the outcomes they experience, and it is always our place to stand and say that love is love, that how one identifies is deeply personal, and that diversity is always to be celebrated, with respect for each other’s intrinsic humanity.

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