2012 Role-Models: From Rocket Scientist to Real Army, Heroes Who Belong to Us All
To be an LGBT Hero doesn’t require that one actually be Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender (or Questioning or Intersex, for that matter); it demands a willingness to fight for the same equality enjoyed by all members of the human family.
These individuals did just that—and all, coincidentally, fulfill both criteria of being LGBT AND a Hero.
R.I.P. Sally Ride: Woman of Space and Science
America’s first woman in space, astronaut Sally Ride lived quietly for 27 years with her partner, Dr. Tam O’Shaughnessy. Although she had married fellow astronaut Steven Hawley in 1982, the two divorced five years later, and when she died of pancreatic cancer in July, the self-written obituary for the 61 year old space pioneer and physicist (an entry which only mentioned “her partner of 27 years” in passing) was the instrument of her personal outing.
The author—some with O’Shaughnessy—of seven children’s books about science, Ride championed the cause of inspiring American youths to pursue careers in math, science, engineering, and technology. She also helped to establish the GRAIL MoonKAM program, which allows children around the world to take pictures of the lunar surface, using a NASA satellite that is currently in orbit around the moon.
After her posthumous coming out, Ride’s sister offered, “Sally didn’t use labels. Sally had a very fundamental sense of privacy, it was just her nature.”
Gen. Tammy Smith: An Army of One
Brig. Gen. Tammy Smith, United States Army Reserve (USAR), is not “just” the first openly-gay flag officer to come out while serving in the U.S. military: She is also the first married gay general officer (her wife, Tracey Hepner, co-founded and directs the Military Partners and Families Coalition, an organization that serves the same-sex partners of military servicemembers and veterans).
Smith—who holds a Master in Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Army War College, among other academic credentials, including a doctorate—received her general’s star on August 10, in a private ceremony held at Arlington National Cemetery, the same day she came out.
In her promotion speech, the Afghanistan War veteran spoke about “standing on the shoulders of giants” and saluted the military women (“firsts,” she called them) who preceded her, and who had “broken glass ceilings, but got scratched in the process.”
Nate Silver: A Beautifully-Ordered Mind
Last month, 34 year old Nate Silver earned his place among the pantheon of notable political analysts in American history, correctly predicting the winner in the presidential match between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
In 31 out of 33 U.S. Senate races, Silver’s predictions came true (with exceptions Montana and North Dakota, in which he forecasted twin Republican victories; both went to the Democrats).
This gay power-wonk (statistician being the “least” of his cryptic-sounding disciplines, which include expertise as both a sabermetrician and psephologist) first gained notice for developing a system for predicting the performance and career development of Major League Baseball players.
In 2009, Silver was named one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People” by Time.
Silver’s sexual identity became the subject of salacious—and irrelevant—ad hominem attacks during this year’s election cycle, when pollster Dean Chambers of UnSkewedPolls referred to him as “a man of very small stature,” and “a thin and effeminate man with a soft-sounding voice.”
Refusing to rise to Chambers’ bait, or lower himself to that level, Silver tweeted, “Unskewedpolls argument: Nate Silver seems kinda gay + ??? = Romney landslide!”
He ends 2012 most assuredly with a bang. His book, “The Signal and the Noise,” published in September, reached The New York Times bestseller list for nonfiction, and was named the Best Nonfiction Book of 2012 by Amazon.
Duncan Hosie: Challenging the “Supreme” Right
Is it every Ivy League student’s dream to one day address the U.S. Supreme Court? Just a month after coming out, Princeton University student Duncan Hosie got his own personal day in “court” (of a sort) when he called to the carpet no less august a personage than Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and took him to task for remarks the jurist had made equating same-sex marriage with bestiality and murder.
As we previously reported (Florida Agenda, December 12, 2012: “At Princeton, Scalia Grilled about Questionable Gay Remarks”), the December 10 exchange occurred following a lecture Scalia gave to promote his new book, “Reading Law.”
Hosie confronted the 76 year old Scalia—the longest-serving justice on the current high court—whose glib reply (“If we cannot have moral feelings against homosexuality, can we have it against murder? Can we have it against other things?”) merely served to stoke the embers of Hosie’s righteous outrage.
“I think his response was absurd in many aspects,” Hosie offered MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. Case closed.
Thomas “Bozzy” Bosworth: Fair Play, On and Off the Field
You might never have heard of 18 year old Thomas “Bozzy” Bosworth if he hadn’t exhibited a measure of courage and grace that is to be found missing in adults twice—three times—his age. The teenage rugby player from Wales (UK) devised his own personal effort to fight homophobia in sports, posting a lengthy Facebook entry about his own experience coming out to his family and his teammates.
“To clear all the gossip up and shit that has been going around about me,” Bosworth wrote. “Yes I am gay and I never choose this and it’s the hardest thing [I’ve] ever had to deal with in my life.”
Courage, grace, persistence, and self-awareness: A champion like Bosworth exhibits all of these.
Cheryl Chow: Seattle’s Best
“Parents and kids: don’t be afraid of saying that you’re gay. I was afraid for over 60 years and those 60 years were wasted.” With those heart-wrenching words, former Seattle City Councilwoman Cheryl Chow, who is dying of brain cancer, came out.
The 66 year old former educator and said she remained closeted for decades because she feared the reaction of her family, and in particular her mother, restaurant owner and elected official Ruby Chow.
Chow said that although her mother was one of Seattle’s first restaurateurs to welcome a gay clientele, “that didn’t mean that she wanted me to be gay.”