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Science, technology, engineering, and maths.
Collectively known as the STEM subjects, they form the backbone of society’s achievements. Everything around you is the product of some form of technology – technology created by engineers, who based it on the findings of scientists, who in turn took inspiration from the predictions of mathematicians. Ok, so it doesn't always work in a linear way like that, but you get the gist. STEM subjects are pretty important.
A handful of the writers on Freedom Requires Wings are involved somewhere in a STEM subject, including myself. There are undoubtedly plenty of scientists (or engineers, or technologists, or mathematicians) in the industry somewhere who aren't straight.
Generally, though, it seems like the sciences and the QUILTBAG spectrum just seem to miss each other out. If I asked you to think of a famous QUILTBAG actor (or anyone involved in the performance industries), I’m sure you’d have a list as long as your arm before you could think. If I asked you for the name of a QUILTBAG politician – well, there’s more of those than there were, and I’m sure most people can think of a number of them
Queer scientists, though? I’m willing to bet that the majority of you can only think of the one – Alan Turing.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t know Mr Turing, of course. He is the reason you’re reading this, after all, and he’s probably the reason the Nazis were defeated in the Second World War. Inventing the computer and cracking the most difficult code ever created aren’t exactly meagre feats. It’s just that he’s not the only gay scientist around.
He’s one of only a few famous QUILTBAG scientists, though. The list is almost shockingly small, but that situation is similar to the list of “out of the closet” people in business – most people in those sectors aren’t in the public eye, so there’s no huge media enquiry into what their orientation is.
Harvey Milk said in a speech:
“I would like to see every gay doctor come out, every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out, stand up and let that world know. That would do more to end prejudice overnight than anybody would imagine. I urge them to do that, urge them to come out. Only that way will we start to achieve our rights.”
He was referencing the social view at the time that homosexuals always act and appear a certain way. This stereotype is still here today, as you may have noticed, but these days most people have accepted that it’s flawed to assume everyone from a certain demographic acts in the same manner.
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| Alan Turing - father of every piece of computer technology ever |
For some reason, though, people seem surprised when someone in science is not straight. It could be that they’re holding on to the stereotype that STEM subjects are the “manly” subject, and therefore women and gay men aren’t allowed to be involved in it (a view which some people in my university genuinely hold, and one that’s complete rubbish). Alternatively, it could be the lack of scientists in general in mainstream media – the idea that they do anything more than look at things in test tubes all day apparently doesn’t occur to some people.
Nonetheless, QUILTBAG scientists have made some of the greatest leaps in STEM history – from the development of proper scientific method, to creating the first scale of human sexuality (a scale that, need I remind everyone, accounted for the existence of not just homosexuals and bisexuals, but also asexuals - way before asexuality was considered as a human orientation). From being the first American woman (and youngest person) into space, to fathering the concepts of computers and artificial intelligence, there’s no doubting that QUILTBAG scientists have made great scientific finds.
So I’m here to try and push a few scientists out into the open, and talk about their scientific careers. I’m going to try to talk about how what they have done or are doing has changed the world in some way. Next week I’ll write about Lynn Conway, an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, and inventor.
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