Why Sally Ri waed until her ath to tell the world she was gay

Contents:

• WHY SALLY RI WAED UNTIL HER ATH TO TELL THE WORLD SHE WAS GAY
• AFTER ATH, SALLY RI REVEALS SHE WAS GAY
• SALLY RI DIDN'T WANT TO BE A GAY IN
• WHY AREN'T THERE ANY OPENLY GAY ASTRONTS?
• SALLY RI GAY: FIRST KNOWN LGBT ASTRONT BORN IN NASA HISTORY!
• SALLY RI REVEALED TO BE GAY: HER SISTER, ON RI'S LIFE, DEATH, AND DIR FOR PRIVACY (UPDATED)
• GAY OR NOT GAY? SALLY RI

WHY SALLY RI WAED UNTIL HER ATH TO TELL THE WORLD SHE WAS GAY

Amerin Library AssociatnIn life, Sally Ri beme famo as Ameri's first woman space — and ath, she's now add to her fame as the first acknowledged gay revelatn me a low-key way: Monday's obuary om Sally Ri Science, the tnal venture she found a ago, referred to Tam O'Shghnsy as "her partner of 27 years. "Bear, a gay Prbyterian mister, tak a different approach. "I'm a rather out-there advote for LGBT [lbian-gay-bisexual-transgenr] rights — my partner and I have even been arrted a uple of tim public prott!

AFTER ATH, SALLY RI REVEALS SHE WAS GAY

I hope mak easier for kids growg up gay that they know that another one of their hero was like them.

SALLY RI DIDN'T WANT TO BE A GAY IN

Is any surprise, then, that no active or former astronts have publicly announced that they're gay? Why not straights and gays? (I'm g the term "gay" here as admtedly aquate shorthand for the LGBT muny.

WHY AREN'T THERE ANY OPENLY GAY ASTRONTS?

But one group had to wa until her ath this week to claim her as a member - the gay a statement prepared before her ath on Monday of pancreatic ncer, Ri, 61, acknowledged publicly for the first time that she had a longstandg relatnship wh a woman, Tam O’Shghnsy, who was her partner bs, science wrg and astront’s webse, Sally Ri Science, listed O’Shghnsy, Ri’s partner for nearly 30 years, as a survivor.

“It was a role which she was never fully fortable, ” Hawley Human Rights Campaign, the largt lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr civil rights group the Uned Stat, posted a tribute to Sally Ri on the ont page of s webse on Tuday. But one group had to wa until her ath this week to claim her as a member - the gay a statement prepared before her ath on Monday of pancreatic ncer, Ri, 61, acknowledged publicly for the first time that she had a longstandg relatnship wh a woman, Tam O'Shghnsy, who was her partner bs, science wrg and astront's webse, Sally Ri Science, listed O'Shghnsy, Ri's partner for nearly 30 years, as a survivor.

“"It was a role which she was never fully fortable, " Hawley Human Rights Campaign, the largt lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr civil rights group the Uned Stat, posted a tribute to Sally Ri on the ont page of s webse on Tuday.

SALLY RI GAY: FIRST KNOWN LGBT ASTRONT BORN IN NASA HISTORY!

And led some to qutn what Ri’s life may have been like a ls homophobic, sexist world.

)Photographer Mackenzie Calle has spent years documentg what means to be an LGBTQ astront through her project, The Gay Space photographs explore Ri’s boundary-breakg exploratn of space—and some of the acplishments that have ma her an in of science, women’s history, and LGBTQ wore this uniform on her historic first ri to space on June 18, 1983, wh the STS-7 space shuttle missn. Should she have ed to fight for gay rights? Bear further elucidated her sister’s posn on gay rights:.

SALLY RI REVEALED TO BE GAY: HER SISTER, ON RI'S LIFE, DEATH, AND DIR FOR PRIVACY (UPDATED)

Moreover, as somethg of a classic, Rockwellian Amerin heroe, Ri’s own intifitn as homosexual might have been (and ed, may still be) a more effective talyst for social nservative rensiratn than the admissn of a “liberal ele” actor or “media ele” journalist. What might Ri’s visibily have meant to LGBT youth, to young lbians, who are all too often crowd off of the media stage by gay men? Gay youths are sperate need of mentors, and what mak Ri’s reticence all the more disappotg is how clearly gifted she was that kd of role.

To be sure, gay kids n benef om relatnships wh mentors who are straight and vice versa, but knowg that you share certa experienc mon n make a world of difference. "Very few people general knew that she was gay.

On she and Ri, their early 30s, realizg they wanted to be together I had realized that I was gay a few years earlier, and I never thought of Sally kd of romantilly. Very few people general knew that she was gay. Related: Why Aren't There Any Openly Gay Astronts?

GAY OR NOT GAY? SALLY RI

O'Shghnsy said that seemed to her that "Anne McCla is aaid of beg who she really is bee she's aaid that she won't get the excg opportuni if people know that she's a gay relatnship. "There's that fear that 'if I'm hont about who I am and tell others that I'm gay, then maybe I won't get promoted, maybe I won't get to fly space, maybe I won't be able to walk on the moon' … I thk that if there are other astronts who are members of the LGBTQ muny or aspirg men and women out there who are members of the muny and who are applyg to bee an astront, you know my sense is they're gonna be worried about beg open, " O'Shghnsy said. As one iend on Facebook wrote, jt, "That lady astront was gay.

Progrsive and gay blogs are lamentg the fact that O’Shghnsy will not receive Ri’s feral benefs bee of the Marriage Act (DOMA) and blamg obvly didn’t want to be a gay in.