Letter
From the Editor
Unexpectedly, it was a student organization called HEAl that started to make me feel at home both in Maine and at UNE COM. The Health Equality Alliance (HEAl) was the LGBTQI+ advocacy club on campus and reminded me of why I love higher education. Here was a group of social-justice minded students advocating for equity, inclusivity, and representation. My curiosity peaked. How was this club a microcosm of the UNE COM community? What work was being done on campus? What research was being conducted? Were alumni practicing LGBTQI+ medicine after graduation? I wanted to be the proverbial sponge to soak up and collect all the queerness around me. I did my research. I chatted with passionate student leaders and alumni, reached out to DEI advocates and used my sphere of influence to help foster a community that is not merely inclusive because it’s trending on TikTok, but open because we are curious about one another and hungry to ensure that our colleagues, our peers, and our patients have space to be themselves.
UNE COM has grown in the last five years. The student-led, Equity Diversity Advancement Committee (EDAC) was formed, along with the Dean’s Advisory Committee for Diversity and Inclusion (DACDI) and the Curriculum Advisory Committee (CAC) Subcommittee on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. The OMM Clinic changed their intake form to ask for preferred name and pronouns. The Office of
As we conclude this Pride Month, it is important for LGBTQI+ advocacy to continue throughout the year as queer people’s rights, dignity and access to healthcare are continually threatened. The concept for a pride edition of the COMmunicator came before the reversal of Roe v. Wade as the dystopian anxieties of a Handmaid’s Tale has always been a part of queer reality. However, the timing feels particularly relevant and necessary.
I moved back to Maine 5 years ago, and have since struggled to find community as Maine, like most of New England, is known for its speakeasy style of association, where without the right password or handshake, you’re left standing in the cold. The hyperbole may be a bit dramatic but for people of marginalized identities, community is… in a word… vital.
Photo by McKenney Photography
L-R: Carissa Fowers, COM '25, Marly Solebello, M.Ed. and Lexi Schneider, COM '24
by Marly Solebello, M.Ed.