posted 07-25-2012 03:01 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
It is clear that Sally Ride Science and Ride's family knew exactly what they were doing when they included the reference to O'Shaughnessy being Ride's partner in their obituary. It was not a mistake.

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I totally agree. Her STS-7 flight taught her a lot about how the media operates. She knew that her relationship with Tam would be noticed (and reported on).

I think she included it in her obituary for two important reasons:

• She wanted other GLBT people to know that she was one of them. So not only would her spaceflight(s) be an inspiration to women, but would now also be an inspiration to other GLBT people.

• She wanted to acknowledge Tam's role in her life...a dedicated partner of 27 years...after keeping it a "secret" (from the general public) for so many years.

posted 07-25-2012 03:13 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by cspg:
Was it well-known that she was a member of the GLBT when she was alive?

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posted 07-25-2012 09:43 PM               

Subsequent reports which discuss her private life have, for the media, not been sensationalistic either (although we have not yet heard from the despicable tabloids).

At least so far, the media has been respectful.

I believe that Sally Ride decided to wait to reveal this part of her life because earlier disclosure might have impeded her primary goal of encouraging girls to study
STEM.

Certainly she would not have revealed it as an active astronaut where anything that might be considered controversial was out of bounds. Earlier astroanuts faced grounding for extramartital affairs or for divorce. While the situation may have changed, old attitudes do not die quickly. It is interesting, however, that Mike Mullane in his excellent book "Riding Rockets" speculated that one or more of his colleagues could be gay.

posted 07-26-2012 01:19 AM               

Was it known or suspected? Possibly. One should read Mike Mullane's comments in 'Riding Rockets'.

posted 07-26-2012 06:02 AM               

There are two pages of comments, which shows that there is some interest in discussing this aspect of Ride's life.

posted 07-26-2012 08:05 AM            

The issue was generated by Ride and her partner (as co-authors of the obituary notice) themselves, in the full knowledge and most probably the expectation that it would be a focal point, posthumously.

To me, the interesting issue is this: following the intense media scrutiny after STS-7, Ride could have chosen to become a GBLT "icon". To put it at its most basic, should could have used her considerable public profile to support the GBLT cause. Yet she chose not to, just the same way that she chose not to "peddle" her fame by endorsing or supporting a myriad of consumer items (with a couple of exceptions - the Hermes range, with Lovell and Aldrin a few years ago). We all know of other astronauts who have endorsed seemingly any and every product that has come along, and in doing so have "cheapened" their fame, and in the process looked a little silly at times.

So to large degree, Ride is a lot like Armstrong — intensely aware of her position in history and (to me at least) someone who "rationed" her access to public affairs and popular issues, so as not to "cheapen" or diminish her position as an iconic figure.

Her one true cause — the promotion of education in the sciences (especially to young women) — was inspirational, and so was the exemplary manner in which she conducted herself in public life following, and I believe, as a result of her fame.

This makes the obituary a little unusual, in the sense that the GBLT issue was raised at all, but it was raised and it is now a matter of public interest.

posted 07-26-2012 09:49 AM               

I vaguely remember something from when I was younger where all the kids in the commercial are getting on a bus for school and she says, "No thanks! I'll take the shuttle." Could be wrong though. Maybe I'll look for the video later — YouTube is disabled at work.

Canyon, you're right. That does seem to be the trend amongst those who make that assertion. Interesting...

posted 07-26-2012 12:45 PM            

Being a former NASA astronaut she would have had full situation awareness of its ramifications. But I would like to know how many within the NASA human spaceflight fraternity were aware of her sexuality? Was her marriage akin to that of Valentina Tereshkova and Andrian Nikolayev?

It's just my own speculation that it was known and was kept hush-hush because of the negative headlines it could have generated back in the early 1980s - after all homophobia would have been much greater than today. Perhaps for the best as we would have been denied Sally's legacy.

posted 07-27-2012 12:53 AM               

I am heartened (not surprised) to read the high esteem in which Dr. Ride is held by everyone responding to this post- including after acknowledgment of, "the news."

Perhaps it is a sign of the times that no one takes the opportunity to jump on here and condemn Dr. Ride because of her sexual orientation. Though I would not expect that either.

Media's attention will reflect their own (the media's) interest. Media uses that information to make money or promote their own interests and hence biases- even if they call it "objective news."

Are some people interested to know more about Dr. Ride's personal life? Sure. Dr. Ride led a very public life- she held a public persona aside from her very real accomplishments and that "persona" means different things to different people, including herself.

To many, she was the first American woman in space. Obviously it took NASA that long to include that half of the human race in it's astronaut corps. That is of interest to some. So it becomes part of our public discourse- carried out by media.

I think it is interesting to look at how our society reacts to news that Dr. Ride was a lesbian. It is a common topic of our time. For as much as we make assumptions about people as individuals- many of us had heard Dr. Ride was married to Steven Hawley. Hence some assumed Dr. Ride was heterosexual. Does that matter? To some, yes. Why? Who knows?

Social custom in western society commonly includes mention of a person's spouse in an obituary. Did some obituaries mention Dr. Hawley and some not? Would purposeful omission of Ms OShaughnessy's relationship with Dr. Ride mean something? To some, yes.

Is discussion about the sexual orientation of members of the astronaut corps a valid topic? To some. We know who the first U.S. woman in space was (or we assume we do). That's a gender question. So who was the first homosexual in space. Was it Dr. Ride? Maybe you're not interested in that topic. Frankly, as a gay man, I am. I suspect an openly gay man applying to the astronaut corps- just might not make the final cut. Or would he? Mark Lee and Jan Davis flew as the first husband and wife (I assume heterosexual) on a space mission (STS-47). Is that of interest to some? I think so.

As a young avid space fan- I remember reading that there was some speculation about whether Scientist Astronaut Brian O'Leary might have been gay. Does it matter in the grand scheme of things? Very little. Did it interest me at the time as a young gay man? Sure. When I was young there weren't exactly many identifiable gay role models. Were the astronauts my heroes? You bet.

Fortunately, there are now many positive gay role models for young gay people. Times have changed.

posted 07-28-2012 09:07 AM               

Some of the folks that wished to shut this topic down may not have been aware that our aerospace industry and military are still in this day and age quite homophobic. This may be very intimidating to those pursuing an aerospace career.

Her message is also through how she lived her life. She did not mix her professional and personal life, and as a result succeeded in reaching her goals.

If we prevent the LGBT population from anything short of full success, then we diminish what we can achieve as a country or even working towards bigger goals internationally.

posted 07-28-2012 09:52 AM               

While sparing details (to protect those people's privacy), I've personally known at least two GLBT people in the aerospace realm, and know what they've had to face. In one case, it was pretty awful, and drove her to seek work elsewhere. The power of a role model like Sally Ride, even with a coming-out that was posthumous, can't be understated. Maybe some folks think too big a deal is being made of it, but having some insight into it, I understand why some folks consider it a big deal, and for the most part what I've seen has been respectful.

I've been encouraged, especially over the last 20 years, to see the shifts in philosophy in regards to sexuality and gender. I hope that continues and someday we'll wonder why those things ever became an issue - that we'll see people as people first, and have our feelings about them based on the kind of person they are, not on sexuality or gender or anything else like that.

posted 07-30-2012 05:54 PM               

As long as she was happy with him/her whoever she was with.