Beyond the exam room: Pride month in veterinary medicine

Happy Pride Month Vet Blast Podcast listeners! On this special Pride Month episode, Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, welcomes Tripp Oliphant, DVM, to the show for a candid look at identity, authenticity, and belonging in veterinary medicine. The 2 discuss growing up without much LGBTQ representation, the daily reality of coming out again and again, and how high-achieving tendencies in vet med can become a way of compartmentalizing one's true self.

Oliphant opens up about coming out to his family, the importance of finding chosen family when biological family isn't supportive, and his hope for greater visibility for future generations entering the profession. Christman also shares pieces of his own journey navigating identity as an out veterinary professional and public speaker. Together, they touch on burnout, authenticity in hospital culture, and why representation in veterinary medicine matters now more than ever.

Below is a partial transcript, edited lightly for clarity.

Adam Christman, DVM, MBA: Did you find it that you had to compartmentalize certain aspects of who Tripp was, like this is the I want to be a veterinarian Tripp, my activities of what I love to do for my mental health, whatever Tripp, and then like who I love and who I'm interested in Tripp, like what did that look like for you?

Tripp Oliphant, DVM: Yeah, no, absolutely. So I will say my grandfather, who's now passed, but he was a big part of my childhood, because he loved animals and gardening and things, and so I kind of used that as a way to kind of have my outside, like that one compartment of, I really found joy in that, and I could find peace. My grandfather, obviously was not in the LGBTQ community…but he loved animals and gardening, and so in some way I could say, you know, oh, this is normal for me, right?

But then the older I got, I realized that it is [not normal]. I think a lot of us in the community, especially in veterinary medicine, we pride ourselves on achievement and pushing ourselves to be the best and the greatest, and so I definitely, with vet med, dove headfirst in, and… I knew that was what my goal was, and I wanted to do that, that was my passion, my dream, and still is, and so I think that I definitely compartmentalize that, I just didn't think that, you know, my sexuality kind of played a role in that, which now looking back it does.

Christman: You know what, it does, and because when I talk to other, you know, fellow members of our community in vet med, we have such high pressure on ourselves, mind you, we put high pressure to be such high achievers. I remember my parents would say this is before I came out to them, they were like ‘Why are you putting such pressure on yourself, Adam?’ Like, it's okay to go out with your friends, stop studying 7 days a week, and I felt like for me it was the only way I could be the Adam without being found out that I was interested, right? And so, if I was successful, if I got that 100 on that exam, if I got that A on the report card, then everything was fine, everything would be okay. Yeah, what was that like for you? Is that similar?

Oliphant: Oh, 100%. I still to this day struggle with, I mean, I guess we call it perfectionism, but we all want to be this achievement…and having goals is super important, and I don't downplay that, but there's something to be said, for pushing that part, that true self aside and making it be kind of your identity for a while, of I'm the person that has to make the good grades, that's what I'm proud of, not because, quite honestly, you're not proud of yourself at that point in your life.

So, there you have to find a way to be proud of yourself, and that was where I put my, I guess, my mindset, and which is sad, but it's true.