Sally Ride
Artwork By:
Jamie Beard
Words By:
Jamie Beard
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About
Dr Sally Ride once famously said “you can’t be what you can’t see.” Indeed, it was impossible not to see Dr Ride as the Space Shuttle Challenger soared up through the clouds on that hazy June day in 1983, making her the first American woman to go into space. Given such a vivid spectacle, it is remarkable that such a pivotal detail in this story would remain hidden from the world until after Dr Ride’s death in 2012; that all along, she had in fact been the world’s first known LGBTQ+ astronaut.
Born in Los Angeles in 1951, Sally Ride had grown up in a generation enthralled by a Space Race escalating across TV screens. In 1978, while completing her PHD at Stanford University, a newspaper ad inviting applications from would-be astronauts sparked something in Sally; what better way to realise her academic ambitions and passion for STEM than joining NASA?
It is telling that even after gruelling years of intensive training, Dr Ride would deem the toughest part of this period to be the relentless sexist media treatment. Although she did see efforts for improved gender diversity at NASA, any show of support for LGBTQ+ personnel was still a long way off. This of course reflected wider society, and it’s no stretch to see how enduring homophobia in public, press and political arenas of the day would have prevented Dr Ride from wanting to live so openly and publicly as a lesbian.
After leaving NASA in 1989, Dr Ride would embody a spirit of inclusivity and equality, evident in her mentoring of women following in her footsteps, and in her nonprofit Sally Ride Science - founded alongside her partner in life and work Tam O'Shaughnessy - which to this day promotes fairer opportunity and diversity in STEM. Dr Ride remained committed to showing women and girls that they, too, could shoot for the stars, just as she had. In her posthumous coming out, entrusted with those closest to her before her death, Dr Sally Ride extended that same powerful message across space and time to fellow LGBTQ+ people; a fitting legacy for a trailblazing life.
