Should Sally Ride have revealed that she was gay?
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| Thu, 07-26-2012 - 4:34pm |
I was sad to learn that Sally Ride had passed away this week, she was such a role model to my generation to know that women really can a "man's job". I really didn't react to the news that she was lesbian, until I read this opinion piece from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/26/opinion/darrah-sally-ride-lesbian/index.html?hpt=op_t1
The piece talks about how some opinions are that she let down the LGBT community by not coming out that she was gay, which the author disagreed with. She talks about how it was a different world 30 years ago, and it didn't surprise her that she wasn't public about that side of her life. It makes me wonder if she would have been the first woman in space if it was known that she was gay. She might not have had the same legacy if she was open about her sexuality.
Do you think that women today are still hesitant to come out as gay in today's workforce? Do you think that's it's more acceptable in some industries versus others?
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She didn't sever NASA ties entirely; wasn't she on both of the oversight groups which investigated the shuttle tragedies? th only person to serve on both, if I remember the obit correctly.
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Kitty
"If you can't annoy somebody with what you write, I think there's little point in writing."-- Kingsley Amis, British novelist, 1971 t .
How does that work about sexuality if you are GLBT? If Sally Ride had chosen to acknowledge her relationship with her partner, it appears, in the words in your previous post, that she's announcing to world who she's sleeping with, but Neil Armstrong's marriages to women don't announce who he's sleeping with?
I think society is doing a disservice to the Gay and Lesbian community. Let them validate their relationships' with the ability to marry and treat Ride, Glenn and Armstrong equally as the groundbreaking role models they were.
You didn't say "people should refrain from making public stands about their sexuality" or "People should keep their sex lives out of the public arena". You said people should just keep their mouths shut. Period.
<< My friends know I'm straight--I have no obligation to stand up and say, "I'm straight and proud." >>
My point exactly. People know you're straigh - because your husband accompanies you places. Because you've talked about your husband or your wedding or activities with him, etc,etc. Gay people's acquaintances should know they are gay - because they too talk about their partners, their weddings, activiites with their partner, etc. But in Sally's case (and in the case of too many people still today) they feel they can't talk about that stuff, so therefore people don't know they are gay.
There is no evidence that she did not talk about it. Her friends and family knew that she was gay so it was not a secret. She just choose to not talk about it publically.
In her case the public arena was her work life, there are many things that people share in their private life, with friends and acquaintances that they choose not to share in their work life.
I don't care if she was gay or not.
I do not think it matters. That may be a very simplistic view but I do feel that it is a personal issue. Chick-Fil-A is taking a nasty beating right now for stating their feelings, yet when you state your preferences, it is fine. We cannot have it both ways. People should say what they feel without retribution, including any from your employer. Sadly, who knows if it would have removed her from the position of being an astronaut had she 'come out' prior but it definitely should not have. It is irrelevant and people should not have to fear being themselves, whether others like it or not.
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