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In most areas this is a non issue unless as others have said you are "blatantly in your face" gay and tend to be obnoxious about it. Over the years I've worked with many gay & lesbian providers and with very few exceptions there never was an issue based on their sexual preference. One that comes to mind is a woman who any time one of the supervisors would try to have a discussion on "her " Pt care ", it was always we were picking on her because she was gay. One night she made a mistake in pt care that could have been dangerous and we had to have a little come to Jesus meeting at the hospital after the ER doc called me. She started in with her discrimination BS line. I very loudly explained to her that I didn't care whether she slept with sheep, snapping turtles or little armpit dogs, but she had better start providing proper medical care or her arse would be out the door. The Doc just stood there with a shit eating grin on her face and let me go off. Afterwards we actually worked together quite a bit and she became a pretty decent medic , once she lost the chip on her shoulder and realized that there were many providers of different orientations working as a group.

A plethora? Small towns in the US don't always have a college, a big library or lots of EMTs. Even EMTs or students in the big cities complain about their resources or seek out help on the forums. Why does anybody ask questions on the internet? Maybe he just wants to branch out a little or network to see if all EMS is just like the volunteer and maybe partially paid organization he is familiar with. I doubt if the paid EMTs have that many calls to their name in a very rural situation. Several small communities start junior EMT and FF programs to increase an interest in EMS since there are not that many other ways to gain an insight but still resources are limited. He may also have limited access to the paid EMTs if they conflict with his school hours. He even stated he was asking this to gain information from more experienced people. There are also many websites just dedicated to EMT study questions but some are good and some are really bad. Young people today also like to use the internet for meet and greet. Maybe if the discussion had be directed more towards what part of studying for the EMT he was interested in before starting in with profanity to prove a 14 y/o wrong, it might have been interesting to hear from a young person who takes an interest in EMS including the mechanical aspects of truck maintenance which is somehow overlooked by a few as the headlines have pointed out in recent months. I doubt if many 14 y/os have this much of a grasp of what EMTs or FFs do. This 14 y/o was telling you as he understood it and as he was told. A lot of paid EMTs don't understand their certifications or state and national agencies. So much for all of the teach the public stuff. How many members of the public, after seeing this discussion, would be eager to ask questions about EMS if you tell a 14 y/o to STFU?

The only ego at stake here seems to be your ERdoc. As I said, give it a rest. You have beat up this 14 YEAR OLD enough. Even if you use the abbreviations, a 14 YEAR OLD will know what they mean when it comes to cursing. I am still not so concerned about a 14 year old who wants to be an EMT and hasn't learned all the legalities of it as I am about someone who should know better than to go after a 14 year old on an EMT forum in the manner you have. If someone hears a 14 YEAR OLD make a statement about being an EMT, those are in his area might know he left off the "junior" or explorer part. I doubt if it warrants a cursing. But, if others were to over hear the conversation posted here directed at a 14 YEAR OLD, I would hope any responsible adult would intervene regardless of your patch.