A doctor in New York City has filed a lawsuit alleging he was repeatedly the target of homophobic comments during his first-year residency at The Brooklyn Hospital Center. The New York Post reports Dr. Chad Jensen, a surgical resident, says among the vulgar jokes made at his expense was a supervisor referring to him as a member of the ATM or ‘a** to mouth crew.’ In his lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Jensen alleges the surgical residency program director, Dr. Armand Asarian, and Dr. Sandeep Sirsi, the associate director, “regularly made hateful, anti-gay comments about their gay patients and unscientific judgments that these patients’ own ‘lifestyle’ caused their illnesses.” The 32-year-old physician, who left the residency program before his year was up, told the Post he was surprised to experience ‘that kind of discrimination’ in New York City. Jensen moved to New York City from California in June 2017 to take the one-year residency. It was during that time he came out as gay. “It just reinforced all of those fears, essentially putting me back into those 29 years that I was living in fear, feeling like I couldn’t be myself,” Jensen told the Post. According to the lawsuit, the Brooklyn Hospital Center did determine after Jensen’s departure that he “had been harassed because of his sexual orientation.” Asarian was reportedly removed as director of the surgical residency program and Sirsi was forced to resign. Jensen is now a resident in the Bronx at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln. He tells the Post he brought the lawsuit because he felt “like he had no voice.” “It made me think of all the other people in this country that are also gay and feel like they have nowhere to go and it leads them down dark paths,” Jensen explained to the Post. “So me coming forward, I wanted to let people know that they’re not alone.” The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks for the hospital to institute anti-bias training. (source: NY Post – stock photo via Depositphotos)
Student Doctor Sues Over Anti-Gay Harassment During NYC Residency
I’ve been a bit slow to post today as I took part in the early caucusing here in Las Vegas. I thought, since it was an early day, it would be a quick ‘in and out’ kind of thing. Boy, was I wrong. The line was out the door of my local YMCA where I caucused. It eventually took nearly two hours to cast my vote. Speaking to a volunteer, the process that had been planned for months was scrapped after the Iowa caucus debacle. So, folks in charge were scrambling a bit to come up with a workable solution. Adding to that were the longer than anticipated lines. There’s definitely enthusiasm on the ground here in Nevada. Once I finally got up to the front, I was given my ballot and told I was required to list my top three choices in order, just in case my top choice didn’t get enough votes come caucus day. You had the option of listing your top five if you felt like it. 
Guest post by Lawrence Pfeil, Jr. If Pete Buttigieg thought people were talking about his donor party in a wine cave, just wait till bitches start talking about Doug’s 41st birthday party in a Silverlake wine bar. Crashers, exes, and a ghost, Girl, please! This is only the beginning in Drew Droege’s hilarious one-manic, tour de toast, Happy Birthday Doug now playing at the Soho Playhouse through March 1st. Last seen in his critically acclaimed run of Bright Colors and Bold Patterns, Drew Droege returns to the stage and flips the script. Before he was one queen holding court poolside; this time he’s a gaggle of gays bestowing birthday wishes on Doug. With only five bar stools crowned by a different beverage, Droege sips um… slips from totally *sober* crasher, to dim-witted woke cater waiter, party whore, ex from Hell (why was she invited???), a couple of insufferable husbands, and the guest list goes on. The side-splitting, ten-minute opening monologue launching the party is worth the ticket price alone. Drew Droege’s multiple personality writing and performance disorder are on colorful display for 70 brilliant minutes. His characters are strikingly familiar yet so insanely detailed as to never feel clichéd. One has to wonder: how many other voices is he hearing and are they all this hysterical? Happy Birthday Doug is the party you hope isn’t yours because no one will ever forget, but you shouldn’t miss for the world. Michael Urie presents Happy Birthday Doug A New Comedy Written and Performed by Drew Droege Directed by Tom DeTrinis Limited Engagement through March 1st Soho Playhouse 15 Vandam Street, New York City Thursday through Saturday at 9:00, Sunday at 3:00 PM 70 minutes, no intermission. All tickets available at 
Lawrence Pfeil, Jr., is a freelance writer/playwright who has reviewed film and theatre, both on and off-Broadway, for media outlets including The Randy Report, the New York Blade, and Edge Publications.