A prescription to cure homophobic doctors

PlanetOut.com – by Beth Dreher

During a yearly checkup, Harvey Makadon did what any responsible sexually active gay man would do: He asked his doctor for an HIV test. But the doctor’s reaction surprised Makadon, himself a physician and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

“I had just turned 40 and it was the first time I’d ever talked to a doctor about being gay and wanting to be tested,” says Makadon. “But after I brought it up, he never ordered the test and never mentioned it again. I think clinicians are just not comfortable dealing with these kinds of issues.”