Help me find LGBT scientists of note

[scarletlatitude]

Hey all  

 

I am a science teacher, and I am working on a wall of people who are scientists (and are not old white dudes). One category that I am using is LGBT scientists of note/historically important. I'm also doing female scientists, Hispanic/Latino scientists, and black scientists. 

 

Any thoughts? Any links for help? I have some made already but I'm sure I am missing people. 

 

Here is what I have so far for the LGBT part: https://drive.google.com/open?id=16p6Di8zDFu3YJbQi7leYMmYGDVAnqgssa_g_ArnnZ6E 

 

Note: yes they are high school kids, so "sexual" mentions are okay as long as I keep it super vague

 

Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with old white dude scientists. It's just that those are ALL that kids see in textbooks, and it can make them think that science isn't for them because they aren't visible anywhere. My hope is that the students look at this wall and see "hey, that person is like me, I can science too!" 

[Calligraphette_Coe]

On 8/1/2018 at 3:39 PM, scarletlatitude said:

Hey all  

 

I am a science teacher, and I am working on a wall of people who are scientists (and are not old white dudes). One category that I am using is LGBT scientists of note/historically important. I'm also doing female scientists, Hispanic/Latino scientists, and black scientists. 

 

Any thoughts? Any links for help? I have some made already but I'm sure I am missing people. 

 

Here is what I have so far for the LGBT part: https://drive.google.com/open?id=16p6Di8zDFu3YJbQi7leYMmYGDVAnqgssa_g_ArnnZ6E 

 

Note: yes they are high school kids, so "sexual" mentions are okay as long as I keep it super vague

 

Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with old white dude scientists. It's just that those are ALL that kids see in textbooks, and it can make them think that science isn't for them because they aren't visible anywhere. My hope is that the students look at this wall and see "hey, that person is like me, I can science too!" 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Conway

 

 

 

 

 

[Knight of Cydonia]

This lists 64 people:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_scientists

[scarletlatitude]

11 hours ago, Knight of Cydonia said:

This lists 64 people:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_scientists

I found that but with some of them it doesn't say that they are LGBT when you research them. I mean I know people might not have it jumping out at you on their page, but I feel like I should at least verify that they were LGBT before using them. I will look through it deeper. *researches* 

 

 

[scarletlatitude]

For anyone who is interested, here is the start to my wall of female scientists:

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zVtzM_8DBvTDjv3kBpbxplUVqH6cRBCvh1bqOryf3rE/edit?usp=sharing 

[thylacine]

Err... any asexual scientists out there...  besides Nicola Tesla?

[Calligraphette_Coe]

14 hours ago, scarletlatitude said:

I found that but with some of them it doesn't say that they are LGBT when you research them. I mean I know people might not have it jumping out at you on their page, but I feel like I should at least verify that they were LGBT before using them. I will look through it deeper. *researches* 

 

 

Sally Ride had to keep her orientation a secret because of her work at NASA, a male-dominated institution. Lynn Conway was summarily fired from IBM under a cloud of animosity and ghosted for a lot of years before starting over from scratch professionally.

 

It I advertised the fact that I was LGBT at my workplace, I'd be looking for a new job within a week. As is, with an androynous appearance, I was relieved of all duties that had a 'face of the company' component and replaced by someone with no experience in engineering at all. At least they couldn't get away with cutting my salary, but I'm buried in a dead end role and saddled with all the drudge work that nobody wants to do or the hard theoretical work that only two or three people _can_ do.

 

 I don't even dare to fraternize with people in 'the community', as you never know when some of those people will out you just to get even with you if you somehow upset them. IDK, I think I'd remind the kids what a toll prejudice takes on some of us, and while it's nice to be out, for some of us, that will have to be a posthumous endeavor.

[scarletlatitude]

And I understand that completely. However, if I am going to claim that someone is LGBT, I want to do my best to make sure that they are/were. I would not want to misrepresent someone's orientation just for a short bio on a wall.  

 

13 hours ago, thylacine said:

Err... any asexual scientists out there...  besides Nicola Tesla?

Good question. I would like to include aces too. 

[Guest Jetsun Milarepa]

Of course you should include aces? If not, then why come to an ace site to ask about LGBT scientists? 🤪

[Kelly]

On 8/3/2018 at 10:48 PM, thylacine said:

Err... any asexual scientists out there...  besides Nicola Tesla?

Isaac Newton, plus the mathematician Paul Erdős.

[RenalWaldo]

Alan Turing.

[Zebrafinch]

I read a biography of Rosalind Franklin years ago.  There was nothing in it about her having any sexual or romantic relationships and the writer suggested that they had looked hard. One telling sentence i remember was " Ros wouldn't know what rape was" 

I've had her down as ace since I started thinking about possible asexuals i might know of.

 

[thylacine]

Zebra Finch...  Whoever made that comment, I'm sure "Ros" would "know what rape was."  I don't know who would make such a sexist comment about an intelligent woman...  But yeah, maybe she was ace.

[uhtred]

On 8/3/2018 at 10:05 PM, Calligraphette_Coe said:

Sally Ride had to keep her orientation a secret because of her work at NASA, a male-dominated institution. Lynn Conway was summarily fired from IBM under a cloud of animosity and ghosted for a lot of years before starting over from scratch professionally.

 

It I advertised the fact that I was LGBT at my workplace, I'd be looking for a new job within a week. As is, with an androynous appearance, I was relieved of all duties that had a 'face of the company' component and replaced by someone with no experience in engineering at all. At least they couldn't get away with cutting my salary, but I'm buried in a dead end role and saddled with all the drudge work that nobody wants to do or the hard theoretical work that only two or three people _can_ do.

 

 I don't even dare to fraternize with people in 'the community', as you never know when some of those people will out you just to get even with you if you somehow upset them. IDK, I think I'd remind the kids what a toll prejudice takes on some of us, and while it's nice to be out, for some of us, that will have to be a posthumous endeavor.

Interesting, I didn't know about Sally Ride. She was a friend of a friend of mine, but I just met her once.  

 

That is the problem, until recently LGBT people needed to keep their orientation very secret or face terrible consequences. 

[Grumpy Alien]

I don't think she's ever commented on a specific label but Temple Grandin has said she's never been interested in any form of personal romantic relationships.

[RoseGoesToYale]

I mainly know about about social scientists. Judith Butler is a famous sociologist known for her work in gender studies. Her partner is political science professor Wendy Brown. (https://www.thecut.com/2016/06/judith-butler-c-v-r.html) There's also Michel Foucault, a social theorist whose partner was sociologist Daniel Defert.

[scarletlatitude]

On 8/4/2018 at 1:13 PM, chandrakirti said:

Of course you should include aces? If not, then why come to an ace site to ask about LGBT scientists? 🤪

Yeah they are just hard to find.  Just like other LGBT orientations, aces weren't always open about their orientation. 

 

Here's a good one I found after a LOT of digging through the internet... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_L._Hart Allan Hart, one of the first trans men to undergo a hysterectomy.

 

 

 

[scarletlatitude]

On 8/6/2018 at 8:20 PM, Zebrafinch said:

I read a biography of Rosalind Franklin years ago.  There was nothing in it about her having any sexual or romantic relationships and the writer suggested that they had looked hard. One telling sentence i remember was " Ros wouldn't know what rape was" 

I've had her down as ace since I started thinking about possible asexuals i might know of.

 

I have her in the list of women scientists already. I have a personal vendetta to get Rosalind Franklin into biology curriculum instead of just Watson & Crick. If she was ace, then all the more reason to do that! 

 

For anyone interested, here are my other docs. I am limiting it to 10 people for each one just because I don't have that much printer ink. 

People of color: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ruD71nOP24FYUpPBXnW8gCQOTQbOBAFR93VCT02wHHM/edit?usp=sharing 

Hispanic/Latino: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f_l7Pha2aj8V05zjhEdXxrmJSYGET0GLnsIRKGXZGzs/edit?usp=sharing 

Women: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zVtzM_8DBvTDjv3kBpbxplUVqH6cRBCvh1bqOryf3rE/edit?usp=sharing 

 

Thinking of also doing one for Middle Eastern/Asian peoples... 

[Calligraphette_Coe]

On 8/6/2018 at 9:00 PM, uhtred said:

Interesting, I didn't know about Sally Ride. She was a friend of a friend of mine, but I just met her once.  

 

That is the problem, until recently LGBT people needed to keep their orientation very secret or face terrible consequences. very 

This article quotes some of her family and friends about why she didn't come out.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/why-sally-ride-waited-until-her-death-tell-world-she-f908942

 

I find it very hard to read that one and others without choking up because I know the feelings all too well. I grew up in the same era as she did.

 

But the real question I have to wonder about is the consequences that we will never know about-- "What about the consequences for society in not allowing LGBT people to live their lives openly, to not make them face being professionally excommunicated for being out?" Such as "What if Alan Turing had been outed and exommunicated before his work on the Enigma Machine came to fruition? How many people would have died were it not for his work that wouldn't have died otherwise?"

 

And it's not really changing all that much for trans people who want to go into teaching. I gave up on that dream at a very early age, knowing that it wasn't going to be accepted then, and isn't accepted now. All that happens is that a trans teacher becomes fair game for conservatives on Talk Radio, where they get ripped to shreds.

 

IDK, but I feel the descent into Third World societal decrepitude seems nursed by anti-LGBT attitudes and provincialism.... like electricity, motion and magnetism, if you have any two, you'll get the third for free.

[Nidwin]

You could also add James Randi to your wall. He's not a woman or scientist but he dedicated a large part of his life and work to debunk pseudo-science and to expose frauds.

[Correner]

Rita Levi-Montalcini.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Levi-Montalcini

[Calligraphette_Coe]

Lately I've been researching neurological topics again in my neverending  quest to find some intersectionality between my DES problem, PTSD, being trans and having had CVAs. I came across this:

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/remembering-the-transgender-scientist-who-changed-our-understanding-of-the-brain/549458/