Sally Ride obituary reveals she was a lesbian

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by dark_crystal

This is an awesome thing!

However, i think there is a math error.

Partner of 27 years? 2012 minus 27 equals 1985, and the article clearly states that she was not divorced from her husband until 1987.

Or perhaps she was one of the many lesbian, bisexual or pansexual women who fell in love with other women while still in a "heterosexual" marriage. I don't think we should jump to conclusions just because someone is married. Many lesbian, gay and queer folks were and still are trapped in conventional marriages that they ended up in just because society forces people to believe in some kind of "natural heterosexual monogamous marriage" idea.

Maybe its a math issue, or maybe partnered 27 years is exactly right. Either way, it shouldn't matter.

Anyways, I think it's really cool and I wonder how openly her and her partner were able to live. It would be interesting to hear her story about how early (if at all) she was able to come out in her field and what her experiences were with it. I know that people should be able to work in their field without pronouncing their sexuality to the world, but at the same time you hear it all the time for gay men. "The first gay man to xyz." You rarely hear the same things when you have lesbian women with high achievements.

Thanks for sharing!