I will always be on the periphery of the community but not inside it. That's just the nature of my existence. I will never fully understand all the things that go on in its culture.

Regardless, at times, when I'm confused, I have felt like I can post here and ask an open-ended question and at least 90% of the replies that I get are good faith responses trying to help me understand and educate me.

Yes, 10% are going to start throwing around "transphobic/dog whistle/Nazi/etc" Because someone dared to even ask a question about something that's being spoken about in conservative circles.

But I don't really care about the 10%. The 90% of you that give me legitimate direct answers, you help me understand this population better. You educate me, and you make me a better provider.

I have learned so much about drag history, drag queen story time, and general queer inclusionary practices to educate children in the past 48 hours then I ever could have learned by just googling.

So to that, I am exceptionally grateful to everyone who takes the time to type out a meaningful reply to me and especially those who link me sources or other additional materials to gather knowledge from. It's not as easy to just Google things anymore because everything is politicized and there is so much spin put on everything in every news article I could find, it was impossible to really get to the bottom of the issue.

And that's regardless of the issue, it almost seems like no matter what I'm trying to look up or understand, there's always multiple takes on it, and people screaming at me one way or another.

I guess, before I make this too long, I just want to say thank you to the community for taking the time to educate me and help me understand when I ask questions. I ask them genuinely, and in good faith so that I can learn. Those that reply in good faith and educate me, I'm extremely grateful to you. Your replies really do matter, and they really do change the way that I think about the world. I read all of them. I integrate them all and then I try and find the truth amongst all the different opinions that have been expressed and all the data I've been presented with. I then use that understanding in my day-to-day practice with my patients. It helps me understand them better, what the community is thinking about things, why certain things are the way they are. All of it is important to properly care for people. Administrators talk constantly about cultural competency, but rarely do people actually put effort into trying to achieve it. My patients, and those that frequent this subreddit and reply to me in good faith, you help me with that competency.

In short, thank you for always giving me the space to ask these questions. I promise to return the knowledge to your brothers and sisters through empathy and understanding.

-Dr. Powers