BeingYour
Authentic By Steve Pierre, B.Sc ’13
On June 19, 1993, Bill Clinton announced the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The policy allowed gay members of the military to serve their country as long as they were not openly gay. At the time, Ross J. Scalese, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the Miller School of Medicine, was proudly serving in the U.S. Air Force on a health professions scholarship. Scalese, who had only just begun questioning his sexuality at the time, knew he would now be unable to explore this facet of his life. After serving more than seven years as an internist and flight surgeon in various assignments across the globe with the Air Force, and fulfilling his obligation, Scalese began his search for a hometown that was not only warmer than his last post in Germany, but also more accepting of the lifestyle he wanted to live. “I chose to make Miami my home because of the diverse, international atmosphere and the openness to gay life,” he said. “I was kind of late in coming to accept and enter that part of my life, and I wanted a place that was open to that. Fortunately, I was also able to find that kind of acceptance at the University of Miami.”
4