doesn’t look like America. We need to change that. Otherwise, we don’t do as good science as we should. Did your Presidential Scholars experience have any influence on this aspect of your career?
Yes. At National Recognition Week, I met one of the first openly gay people I’d ever met. I was still in the closet at that point, and I thought, “Wow.” This was part of the diversity I mentioned; the Scholars were the most cosmopolitan group I’d ever been around. I came across a video on your website that was just fascinating, which brings together several threads of your career. Could you tell us about it?
I was at Penn State to receive a distinguished alumni award, and I met with several student groups, including the group for queer science majors. They asked, “Why aren’t there any famous gay scientists?” I said, “What about Frank Kameny?” They didn’t know who he was.
COURTESY OF JANE RIGBY
I didn’t know who Frank Kameny was, either.
Frank Kameny had my job, almost 60 years ago. He was a civil-servant astronomer. He was fired in the 1950s because he was homosexual. While many lost their jobs in that era for being gay, Frank was unusual because he fought back, all the way to the Supreme Court. He played a role in so many important moments in gay rights. He lobbied the American Psychiatric Association to admit that homosexuality is not a mental illness. Frank defended over 200 other people who were losing their federal government jobs because they were gay. Eventually, the federal government stopped firing employees because they were gay – because of Frank. I was proud to be part of the ceremony where the AAS honored Frank’s memory. It’s the only time I’ve seen a standing ovation at that meeting for something that wasn’t Nobel Prizewinning research. Later, at the request of NASA administrators, I gave a few talks about Frank [see www.janerigby. net/public-speaking/] to tell his story. Thanks for sharing your stories, and Frank Kameny’s, too.
137 50 YEARS OF U.S. PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARS
In Pursuit of Excellence