LGBT+ History Month role models: Tobias Hunter

What inspired your path into the veterinary profession?

When I’m passionate about something, I give it my everything, and I’m truly passionate about animal welfare. Becoming a vet means playing a key role in educating and supporting owners to do the best by their pets. I also enjoy the logical and detective skills required to piece together a diagnosis from history and clinical exam, often made more difficult by the fact our patients can’t tell us what’s wrong!

What has been the most challenging part of your career?

Not so much my career but my path through vet school was chaotically disrupted when my Mum died in the first year. Dealing with the grief but also all the fall out (financial worries, family issues etc), severely affected my mental health and I ended up resitting exams in the summer and the whole of the second year as a result. I’d say I only fully began to heal during COVID when the lockdowns meant online lectures, a less busy timetable, and more time to process my emotions. My struggles are certainly not over but I’m doing ok!

What has been the best part of your career so far?

I’ve made a lot of great friends in the veterinary profession and have so many amazing highlights to pick from, such as running a trip abroad to Prague Zoo, marching in my first Pride parade and running workshops for qualified veterinary professionals at London Vet Show!

What are your proudest achievements of your career?

The Active Allyship sessions which involve working through challenging scenarios about discrimination in the veterinary world are certainly my proudest achievement. Together with a committee from BVCIS and BVEDs, we produced scenarios and ran these workshops at multiple Conferences over 2021 and 2022. It was incredible to see the level of engagement people had with these sessions and to see them through their allyship journey. We hope to build on this over the next year!

What advice would you offer to someone experiencing difficulty with their sexuality or gender identity?

It can be terrifying when you first start to suspect something about you is different. Whether that happens as a toddler, during puberty, in your university years, or much later in life, the sense of fear will always be the same. Society isn’t known for being kind to those who don’t fit into the ‘norm’ but I can tell you now that no matter what you’re going through, there will be a whole community of people out there that understand exactly what you’re feeling. Go find them. Let them support you and build your confidence to be who you truly are. Because everyone deserves to live their life free from hate and that means learning to love yourself as well.

If there is one piece of advice you would give your younger self, what would that be and why?

Don’t try and hide who you are. It doesn’t do anyone any favours to keep things bottled up and to go on pretending that everything is fine. I came out in college, and I wasted so many years of my life before that incredibly unhappy. Since coming out, I’ve faced many other personal challenges, but I’ve faced them as myself and that has given me the confidence I’ve needed to make it through. I’ve also had the support of all my amazing friends – friends I wouldn’t have met if not for the LGBT+ community. So yes, I wish I’d come out a lot sooner.

Further reading on LGBT+ History Month, BVLGBT+ and Vetlife

Head to LGBT+ History Month and British Veterinary LGBT+ Society to learn more.

Vetlife offer independent, confidential and free help for everyone in the veterinary community including veterinary nurses, students and non-clinical staff. If you or anyone you know is after support, Vetlife is here for you.