Dr. Thomas Marlowe
Charlotte, NC
Now a physician practicing in Charlotte, Dr. Thomas Marlowe has been working with trans patients since he was a medical school intern, more than 22 years ago.
“I’ve had the honor of helping patients transition for longer than most doctors out there,” he said. He attributes this dedication to a calling from God, having met a transgender woman through a prayer group in Indiana, where he grew up. After meeting Steffi, trans people and topics kept showing up in Thomas’ life, one after another, and he sought clarity through prayer. He found meaning for the synchronicity in his career: “I have been told by so many trans clients that finding me was the answer to their prayers. I can think of no greater purpose than being a conduit for God’s grace.”
Thomas is a strong proponent of protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination, for reasons of faith and professional integrity. Over the span of his medical career, he has seen a lot of discrimination against his patients. He has learned to advise his patients to work around the prejudices they may encounter in the course of care. As a physician, he helps some patients medically transition with hormone replacement therapy. Sometimes pharmacists call his office and ask for unnecessary information like ICD-10 codes, which they do not need or even use.
“It’s just another hoop for patients to jump through, and it has never once happened to the cisgender patients that I prescribe hormones to. Only to trans people.” So Thomas has to advise patients to be especially polite and demure, or to be as stealth as possible. It’s upsetting, but he has seen providers refuse care his patients needed because they weren’t more deferential. “I’ve had to say that they shouldn’t show up like ‘Hey, I'm just like anybody else. Let me get this done.’ Because my trans patients who have been more outspoken or demanding are turned away and treated badly because there's no protection for them.”
When he was described as a radical ally within his field, Dr. Marlowe said, “I think the whole point is that being an ally is not radical at all. It's part of being a good doctor. NOT being an ally is a radical choice for healthcare providers.”
Dr. Thomas Marlowe is a founding member of the Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group, an interdisciplinary collective of providers which seeks to reduce healthcare disparity experienced by the trans community in the region.