Dr. Schuster went to medical school at Harvard and did his residency at Children’s, starting in the early 80s. I went to medical school at a public university in the Midwest, starting about a decade later. I would have expected, given its reputation, that Harvard would have been a much more tolerant place, even at the time of Dr. Schuster’s matriculation.
I was quite shocked to read of how rife with blatant homophobia it was. (…)
During my surgery rotation, I got into a confrontation with one of the surgeons after he jokingly referred to brazil nuts as “nigger toes.” (It was during a discussion of the adrenal glands, which are said to resemble them.) I stormed out of the room, perhaps inadvisedly, and came back later to make my peace with him. I rather stupidly thought that would be the end of it. About a year later, I was told that the same surgeon had been talking about the incident one day in the OR with one of the residents, and referred to me as “that queer.”
