The announcement of Sally Ri's ath ma her the first openly gay astront, albe posthumoly. Why are there no others?
Contents:
- WHO WAS THE FIRST GAY ASTRONT?
- WHY AREN'T THERE ANY OPENLY GAY ASTRONTS?
- WHY AREN'T THERE ANY OPENLY GAY ASTRONTS?
WHO WAS THE FIRST GAY ASTRONT?
“Corporate Ameri is really nervo about gay women, ” O’Shghnsy said. While many articl have lled Ri “gay” and “lbian, ” ’s unclear to me precisely how she intified. In the same BuzzFeed article, Bear (who, acrdg to the article, intifi as “gay”) said, “Sally didn’t e labels.
WHY AREN'T THERE ANY OPENLY GAY ASTRONTS?
A few spouted homophobic hatred.
What ma this 61-year-old pneer—so bold her actns, so non-tradnal her choice of reers and votn to science; this baby-boomer whose life had been transformed by the space age and the social revolutn of the ’60s and ’70s—keep silent, so long, about beg gay? “Gay” didn’t fly.
WHY AREN'T THERE ANY OPENLY GAY ASTRONTS?
By 1977, wh the natnal social nscns risg and NASA seekg more non-ary scientists for the new space shuttle program, along wh the first women and mori, the possibily of a gay astront was still, acrdg to one of Sally’s classmat, beyond ntemplatn. But as same-sex relatnships grew more accepted around the untry, they ntued to shield theirs om all but a tight circle, so foced on buildg their pany and not fflg vtors’ feathers—“rporate Ameri is really nervo about gay women, ” Tam told me—that they may have missed the revolutn.
“Sally didn’t want to be fed by the lbian/gay label jt as she didn’t want to be fed by a genr label, ” Tam said. Beg the poster child for gay astronts might well have robbed her of whatever privacy she had left.
At the Johnson Space Center next month, the LGBT employe group will honor her as part of Gay Pri ceremoni. She is, after all, the only openly gay astront. “Which, ” I asked, “might have ncerned him more—that his dghters were gay or that they were Democrats?