Happy International LGBTQ+ STEM Day! This is the first year it’s being celebrated on November 18. Although LGBTQ+ STEM Day was previously celebrated on July 5th, an open survey and months of discussion led to the selection of the symbolic November 18 for future celebrations.
Why November 18?
Kameny’s Petition to the Supreme Court of the United States dated November 18, 1960
American astronomer Frank Kameny graduated under the supervision of the first woman department head at Harvard, Professor Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin. She was also the first to discover that stars were mainly made up of the chemical elements hydrogen and helium. After being hired as an astronomer in the U.S. Army’s Army Map Service in July 1957, Kameny was fired the following January when they found out he was gay and subsequently banned from ever working for the federal government.
He requested a change in the decision of his firing with an appeal through the judicial system. Twice he was unsuccessful, so he brought his fight to the Supreme Court. Although that motion was also unsuccessful, it became a historical moment and was the first known civil rights claim based on sexual orientation in a U.S. court. With the date of the Supreme Court claim dated November 18, 1960, today marks the 60th anniversary of Kameny’s fight against workplace discrimination. It is a fight that still continues today.
We at Science Rendezvous honour November 18 and hope to help make STEM more inclusive!
Resources
- Pride in STEM, Organizer of LGBTQ+ STEM Day
- Resources from Pride in STEM
- LGBTQ+ People in STEM Day Virtual Event, Canadian Multicultural Inventors Museum
- Science World BC’s LGBTQ+ STEM Day Profiles
- Interviews with Canadian LGBTQ+ People in STEM
- LGBTQ+STEM Conference, Canada
- Queer Atlantic Canadian STEM, organization
- Queer Canadians in STEM Project
