Brave Advocacy

When I was at a meeting of some of the awesome leadership of MedFLAG (Medical Friends of Lesbians & Gays, the queer/ally group of my med school), I remember one person brought up her frustration with always having to carry the burden of being the "spokesperson" for her class, the token med student who could explain concepts that were foreign to her colleagues, like how to avoid heteronormative speak when interviewing patients, how to be culturally sensitive with LGBT folks, etc.  While it can be rewarding to be an advocate, of sorts, for oppressed individuals and communities, it can also be exhausting to seemingly always have to be the one person who addresses problematic issues - like lobbying for a unisex bathroom that is inclusive for transgender/genderqueer people, or campaigning to bring more diverse faculty members into an ethnically homogeneous academic environment.