Grey’s Calliope

June 5, 2023

Bear with me for a moment, as I descend into a binge-watching stupor, and pretend that fiction is reality.  I think most people would agree that these days, the distinction can be confusing.  I’m only on Season 11 of Grey’s Anatomy, but I can’t shake the irrational belief that these characters are actual people I know.

Calliope Torres, the head of Orthopedic Surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital, is my hero.  She’s the driving force behind the hospital’s transformation into a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community.  Callie single-handedly changes a homophobic and transphobic culture by being an ‘out’ bisexual woman, and by challenging stereotypes one at a time.  Like the actor who portrays her (Sara Ramirez), Callie is an activist in the truest sense of the word.

Callie’s activism isn’t overtly political.  It’s personal, a result of her authenticity and resilience.  Callie wears her heart on her sleeve.  She’s honest and vulnerable, but also tough as nails.  She speaks her mind – in both Spanish and English – and refuses to be categorized or labeled by others.

Callie Torres transforms the hospital, but the truth is that she’s just a fictional character in a fictional hospital.  The reality of health care for the LGBTQ+ community is scarier than the series depicts.  Almost 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the U.S. are being tracked by civil rights groups.  These bills limit access to health care, education, sports, bathroom use, and legal recognition, and primarily target the trans community.  Some of the bills criminalize gender-affirming care for minors with threats of felony and child abuse charges.  The bills disregard serious risk factors which often result from lack of access to care.  They promote hate, violence, and bigotry, which ironically can lead to a greater need for care.  

Medical and mental health challenges are frightening for anyone.  But there are additional layers of fear for those who identify as LGBTQ+.  People in the LGBTQ+ community need to know that a medical facility is safe – that their bodies, minds, and chosen families will be respected and affirmed.  They need to know that staff are well-informed and trained, and that discrimination and prejudice at all levels of an institution won’t be tolerated.  

They need to know that they can safely use the bathrooms.

If each of us does one thing during this Pride month to make the world healthier for the LGBTQ+ community, lives will literally be saved.  What we do individually can be small and within our comfort zones – but collectively will be a strong antidote to fear and hate.

Think of Callie Torres as a role model for change.  Let fiction inform reality.