We all deserve the right to live authentically, and a person’s sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, and gender identity should never hinder that. For LGBTQIA people, coming out — whether it is a gradual process or sudden — looks different for everyone. For Justin Green, full time DispatchHealth Medical Technician (DHMT) and part time country singer, the journey to owning his truth and gaining confidence was a process.
Justin grew up in Oklahoma, Nashville, and Colorado among conservative and religious communities. He was quiet and introverted, but also played sports and started playing violin in the 7th grade. After being made fun of for violin being “gay,” he switched to guitar to be cool. He was a pitcher on the baseball team at a small Christian college in Iowa where he also pursued songwriting, singing, and played guitar and piano while deflecting questions about why he did not have a girlfriend. “I didn’t want to feel left out, and I was living this double life,” he said.
“After getting his degree in biology, Justin was unsure what direction to take, and ended up working at King Soopers, eventually becoming a manager. But he knew that road was a dead-end and he wanted to take a serious stab at country music. So, he packed up his pickup truck and moved out to Nashville. In Nashville, he worked as a bartender and in sales positions. Both of those jobs helped him gain confidence, which is what he needed to take another big step – coming out.
In 2016, at age 27, Justin came out to his close friend and then to his family, who responded very supportively. He continued to gain confidence in his performing talents, got more involved in the LGBT+ community in Nashville, and met the man who is now his fiancé. Justin plays rugby on an LGBT+ team and participates in community service with the team. Today, his music and professional careers are gaining traction. He decided to go back into healthcare and at the start of the COVID 19 pandemic and used his stimulus check to enter EMT school. That helped him land a job as a DispatchHealth Medical Technician (DHMT) with DispatchHealth’s new Nashville team. Although busy helping patients in the community, Justin continues to perform and now writes songs about LGBT+ topics. He is attending graduate school online and wants aspires to a leadership role supporting rural health care and LGBT+ issues.
“I want to have the opportunity to do outreach and make an impact on the lives of people in rural settings that don’t have access to health care, and to help LGBT+ individuals have confidence that they can receive health care as well as anybody else,” he said.
Justin is also more openly gay as a performer. “I have the opportunity to be myself and be an example for someone who has been in my situation who was afraid to come out.” He supports LGBT+ causes, and he wrote a song called Just Fall, which includes these lyrics: “You are how you should be; human just like me. Just fall. Just fall in love.” While sometimes Justin and his fiancé both still face uncomfortable situations about their relationship, together they can work through the criticism and remember what is important.
For Justin, Pride Month means two things: “One is an opportunity to celebrate yourself and your community. Everybody has a different story and things they have overcome. The second is to remember the history of people who had to fight for rights and equality, to reflect on those who allow me to be able to live the way that I live.”
At DispatchHealth, we are thankful for the opportunity to sit down with Justin Green and listen to him share his journey and passion for music and accessible healthcare to the LGBT+ community. We are excited to follow him on his journey and encourage readers to listen to Justin’s music!
