Beyond the exam room: Pride month in veterinary medicine

Happy Pride Month, The 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 LGBTQIA+ representation, the daily reality of coming out again and again, and how high-achieving tendencies in veterinary medicine 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 that you had to compartmentalize certain aspects of who Tripp was? Like, this is the “I want to be a veterinarian” Tripp, [the] “my activities of what I love to do for my mental health”—whatever—Tripp, and then [the] “who I love and who I'm interested in” Tripp. What did that look like for you?

Tripp Oliphant, DVM: So I will say my grandfather, who's now passed, was a big part of my childhood because he loved animals and gardening and things, so I…really found joy in that, and I could find peace. My grandfather was not in the LGBTQ community…but he loved animals and gardening, so in some way, I could say, “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, pride ourselves on achievement and pushing ourselves to be the best and the greatest. So I definitely, with vet med, dove in headfirst…. I knew that was what my goal was, and I wanted to do that. That was my passion, my dream, and still is. 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: It does, and when I talk to…fellow members of our community in vet med, we [put] such high pressure on ourselves…to be such high achievers. I remember my parents would say this before I came out to them…“Why are you putting such pressure on yourself, Adam? It's OK 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 Adam without being found out…. 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 OK. What was that like for you? Is that similar?

Oliphant: Oh, 100%. I still to this day struggle with…perfectionism…. Having goals is super important, and I don't downplay that, but there's something to be said for pushing that true self aside and making it be kind of your identity for a while. “I'm the person that has to make the good grades. That's what I'm proud of.” [But] quite honestly, you're not proud of yourself at that point in your life.

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