Weaving Care from the Margins: How LGBTIQ+ Medical Trainees Craft Professional Identity through Vulnerability

Abstract Background LGBTIQ+ medical trainees face distinct forms of discrimination that could shape their professional identity formation (PIF). These challenges influence how they engage with the social and cultural dynamics of medical training. While research on PIF is expanding, little is known about how LGBTIQ+ trainees craft their professional identities. Methods Guided by intersectionality theory and employing constructivist grounded theory methodology, we conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with LGBTIQ+ medical students and residents in Bogotá, Colombia. Data were analyzed through constant comparison and iterative coding, with theoretical sampling used to reach theoretical sufficiency. Reflexivity was central, with researchers drawing on their intersectional positionalities to enrich interpretation. Results LGBTIQ+ medical trainees navigated environments shaped by heteronormativity, where exclusion and violence were commonplace. To safeguard their well-being, they looked for safe spaces within and outside medicine. Experiencing vulnerability in this way deepen their empathy, especially toward marginalized patients. From this emerges the figure of the Care Weaver—a physician identity grounded in relational care and committed to challenging detached models of professionalism with a more humane conscious approach. Discussion This study advances PIF understanding by illustrating how LGBTIQ+ trainees actively resist and reconfigure medical norms, transforming marginalization into relational capacities. Their identity work reveals the limitations of existing PIF models and points to the value of integrating intersectionality into both research and educational design. We argue that fostering such identities must not rely on the endurance of systemic harm, but instead on structural reforms that affirm diverse ways of becoming a doctor.