Journey of self-discovery for Rainbow Doctor

It has been a special journey of self-discovery and breaking barriers for local Rainbow Doctor, Dr Lethuxolo Shange.

The 24-year-old has been a proud member of the queer community from a young age, although he might not have known what it meant at the time.

“I always knew that I was different but it was just that I did not have a word for it. From an early age, around pre-school, I always felt more motherly than the other boys and I would always care more than they would when someone got hurt.”

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He added not being able to identify how and what he was feeling was mainly due to the lack of representation and information available in the community at the time. It wasn’t until his matriculating year that Shange was able to put a label to it and fully embrace that he was gay.

“There was always this difference and people would also tell me that I am different,” he said.

During Shange’s matric year he had a moment of introspection where he took the time to get to know himself.

“I sat in my room and thought about it and I came out a better person. This is who I am, I have accepted it and we love us.”

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The transition was not only a challenge for him but a challenge for the people surrounding him.

While Shange’s friends were always there for him, coming out to his family was harder than expected.

“Coming from a very traditional family, it was kind of hard for me at home but I eventually came out to my family, my mother, when I was in my second year at Wits. It was not a great experience in the beginning because it was a shock to her but our relationship today is the best that it has ever been,” he said.

Entering into a more traditional field such a medicine was also a challenge that Shange was prepared to take on.

It was important to him to show that members of the queer community can take up professional roles, inspiring not only other students but making more queer people more comfortable with getting the medical assistance that they require.

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“I have entered this space without seeing anyone who looks, talks and acts like me, so I have gone into it with the mindset that there is no mould, I am going to create the mould.

“I have dubbed myself the Rainbow Doctor, that is the kind of person that I am at work and the kind of person that I am to my patients. I am a very, very proud queer person at work, equally with any other space that I find myself in.”

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Shange was also part of the thousands of LGBTQIA+ community members who attended Johannesburg Pride in Sandton on October 29.

“It [Johannesburg Pride] was everything that I hope and more. It was so amazing to see the community come together like that.”

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https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/255859/wellness-across-the-board/