I will be doing my pre-op stuff soon, and I was uncertain if I should share that I am a lesbian. I come from conservative west Texas, so if I were having the surgery here, I probably wouldn't tell the doc. But I'm having it in Colorado with Dr. Kirshenbaum, so I thought I'd see what y'all thought. :rolleyes2:

Would have voted for another option, Not relevant. Unless being gay changes the routing of your stomach, then this could be a critical piece of information.......Does it?

Are you gay?

reason for question?

I guess I never gave it a second thought. My partner & I are just that - partners. We act as any other couple act. We show up together, ask questions regarding the procedures, laugh, she tells embarrassing stories about me & etc...I never felt the need to announce it or hide it, but the pregnancy test cracked us up too. It shouldn't make one bit of difference to your doctor or the staff. If you get the "I hate homo" vibe there are plenty of other places to spend your money.

That's my philosophy, too. It comes up with doctors when they assume that because I'm a mom, I gave birth (I didn't; my partner did), or when they ask about my plans for birth control, or when they ask if I'm married.

Those pregnancy tests are SOP; they can't risk operating on a pregnant woman and causing a pregnancy loss. It has nothing to do with you personally.

And yeah, if I came out to a professional who couldn't be professional knowing I was gay, I'd fire the person and find somebody else. But that's a privilege I have, because I live in a place where it's not socially acceptable for doctors to mistreat patients because they are LGBT. I know not everybody can just walk away from a doctor.

I will be doing my pre-op stuff soon, and I was uncertain if I should share that I am a lesbian. I come from conservative west Texas, so if I were having the surgery here, I probably wouldn't tell the doc. But I'm having it in Colorado with Dr. Kirshenbaum, so I thought I'd see what y'all thought. :thumbup:

Hi Cara, I had my surgery in Monterrey Mexico. Since I had it out of country and I am not completely fluent in Spanish I introdued my partner as my friend. I believe everyone new as I have been on the boards a lot and never kept it a secret. We were both treated extremely well and she was shown every consideration that an opposite sex spouse would be. Monterrey is a very large city and very cosmopolitan. I always feel a little sheepish about not being totally open. No worries, we do what we feel is best at the time! The US coordinator knew for sure that I was Lesbian and she shared with me that her favorite sister was also and her sisters partner was her favorite sister in law.

Corliss

I will be doing my pre-op stuff soon, and I was uncertain if I should share that I am a lesbian. I come from conservative west Texas, so if I were having the surgery here, I probably wouldn't tell the doc. But I'm having it in Colorado with Dr. Kirshenbaum, so I thought I'd see what y'all thought.

I'm just curious why would your sexual preference matter?

It matters in the same way that a straight person would share information about their opposite sex spouse. Straight people dont think twice about telling a Dr. this is my husband, he's going to be with me for surgery and follow up. It's different when you sometimes feel you have to hide that part of your life. (Will I be treated rudely because I'm gay, should I just tell them this is my friend waiting for me after surgery?)