I’ve noticed a lot of different people reflecting on frustrations with their local or state health departments and setting up a pretty polarizing “us” vs. “them” dichotomy. As if anything from the DOH is just counter-productive and draconian, limiting rather than assisting any influence we might want to have. I want to counter that a bit, while also acknowledging that there are a lot of frustrations working with government regulations.
I used to work for the Vermont Dept. of Health, and I left in 2001. I worked for the HIV/AIDS Program, and we had a number of community activists on staff–gay, lesbian, trans and bi people, all of whom self-identified as one or more of the above, all of whom were out and open as such, and many of whom were organizers in the streets (or dirt roads, since it is Vermont) of our communities. It was easy to be dismissed by local community groups, the ASOs and CBOs who got funding from the health department, but who looked at us with suspicion and derision. But it sometimes felt like our good ideas or good energy towards good projects also got dismissed because of where we worked. Remember, the health department is staffed by people who are your peers. There are some great allies there, and people who are doing good work, themselves often frustrated by systems which limit and restrict what they are able to do.
