Hinsum Wong, President of Edinburgh University LGBT+ Medics talks inclusiveness, representation and education plus socials, buddies and the annual fundraising drag night.
My name’s Hinsum and I’m the President of EUMLGBT+. Having been an informal working group for several years, myself and other now-graduated students decided to make the transition to become a EUSA registered society in 2018. It has been exciting to meet and work with students from all year groups to increase the representation of LGBT+ individuals in the Medical School.
Tell us about your society
We are a society that advocates and provides social spaces for LGBT+ medical students at Edinburgh. The inclusion of LGBT+ education in the medicine curriculum is also a top priority. We organise mixer events with the NHS Staff Pride Network to dispel anxieties around working in the NHS as an LGBT+ individual. Alongside this, we hold educational talks for the University’s wider community and are working with the Medical School to reform LGBT+ education as part of the HES module.
As part of LGBT+ History Month, we hosted a talk on gender healthcare and the latest developments in that area. In collaboration with Medical Women’s Federation Edinburgh, we also heard experiences from LGBT+ women in medicine: from the one and only Sophia Jex-Blake to two women surgeons, Miss Chloe Scott and Mrs Phillipa Burns.
If your society was a drink, what would it be and why?
Any spirit, just don’t have it straight.
Favourite society meet-up place
We have frequented Paradise Palms after most of our socials so I guess that? They offer a variety of said non-straight spirits at a decent price. In all honesty though, the venue doesn’t really matter to us as it’s more about who’s there, as cheesy as that sounds.
Who inspires you?
As an LGBT+ individual, I’m constantly inspired by others in the LGBT+ community who live their truths proudly and unapologetically. I’ve learnt much from this community especially since I come from a conservative culture. As far as our society’s work is concerned, we are driven by our interactions with LGBT+ patients. Much of the negative experiences of these patients, such as misgendering, stem from a lack of education to healthcare workers and it is a shame these preventable issues often perpetuate disengagement from healthcare. We work to provide future doctors with tools to manage LGBT+ issues confidently and respectfully.
How can I join?
Just drop us a message! We have regular socials like film nights and mixers, or you can drag up and perform at our annual Medskool Drag Night. Our annual drag nights have raised over £2000 for local LGBT+ charities. We have our AGM coming up soon in March, so pop along and get involved. For future events, keep an eye out on our social media: you can find us @edinburghlgbtmedics on Instagram and @EUMLGBT on Facebook!
You can also along to any of our events (as you might have guessed, we’re pretty inclusive). We are always keen to engage students from across all years, so drop us a message or if you’d like to be buddied up with one of our members, you can complete this form
