LGBTQ+ People in Technology

by Juee Deshmukh, edited by Jeet Parikh, Jason Liu, & Nivi Chozhan, art by Thejo Tattala, & Blogged by Sahithi Lingampalli

June - a month for glorious pride- dedicated to the acceptance and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community. This month is a time to bring attention to numerous impactful + individuals part of the community that changed the future with their hard work and dedication. Below are a few individuals who changed the world through activism and technology.

Leanne Pittsford

Leanne Pittsford is the CEO and founder of Lesbians Who Tech & Allies. The organization includes over 70,000 non-binary, LGBTQ+ women, queer women of color and fellow allies. In 2017, Pittsford launched the Tech Jobs Tour. The tour connected “diverse and non-traditional talent” to numerous open U.S. jobs. Furthermore, she launched include.io, a platform for marginalized technologists and recruiters. Pittsford was formerly a senior director at Equality California from 2006 to2010, an LGBTQ organization behind “No on Prop 8,” which declared same-sex marriage illegal. The concept was said to be unconstitutional in 2013 with the efforts of Pittsford and many other advocates (Lesbians Who Tech).

Peter Arvai

Peter Arvai is the executive chairman, co-founder and CEO of Prezi. Many students and teachers might be familiar with this Hungarian presentation software company. According to Dixa, a European software company, the site has over 325 million public presentations as of April 2018 (Dixa). Arvai “has worked incredibly hard to champion diversity and inclusion at Prezi” since 2009, making it onto the outstanding LGBTQ+ Role Model list, emphasizing his efforts to make workplaces more welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals. Arvai is one of Hungary’s few openly gay leaders, a place where being a member of the LGBTQ+ community is challenging; Places like these don’t permit same-sex couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples (Dixa). Arvai and his team are working to display to the country that it is acceptable for LGBTQ+ individuals to be open about their sexuality.

Edith Windsor

Edith Windsor was a technology manager at IBM and a gay activist who fought and won against the Defense of Marriage Act. Windsor was in love with Thea Spyer; however, when Spyer died, the government expected $350,000 in estate taxes (NPR.org). The two met in 1967, and Spyer proposed to Windsor with a pin with diamonds instead of an engagement ring. They were concerned about the potential risk of being questioned; therefore,t would take decades for Windsor and Spyer to be able to marry each other. Unfortunately, Thea Spyer died only two years later, and Edith Windsor was faced with a large sum of money to pay. DOMA, an act which implied that same-sex marriages are less worthy than heterosexual ones, blocked her from receiving benefits from the marriage, so Windsor set up a legal fight to obtain justice. In the end, the court voted in favor of revoking DOMA in 2013, and the act was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Windsor died at 88 in September of 2018. Nevertheless, Edith Windsor paved the way for many happy marriages.

The trailblazers mentioned above are examples of how one’s sexuality does not define his or her worth and actions. Thus, if someone is part of the LGBTQ+ community, he or she is equally qualified and worthy enough to make an impact across the world. Happy Pride Month!

References

About Lesbians Who Tech’s Founder - Lesbians Who Tech & Allies. (2021, March 4). Lesbians Who Tech & Allies. https://lesbianswhotech.org/about/leanne-pittsford/

Leanne Pittsford | Technologist, Diversity Leader, Entrepreneur, Speaker. (2016). Leanne Pittsford. https://leannepittsford.com/

LGBTQ+ Tech Innovator: Peter Arvai. (2020, August 21). Dixa. https://www.dixa.com/blog/lgbtq-tech-innovator-peter-arvai/

Edith Windsor, Whose Same-Sex Marriage Fight Led to Landmark Ruling, Dies at 88 (Published 2017). (2021). The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/us/edith-windsor-dead-same-sex-marriage-doma.html

Edith Windsor, LGBTQ Advocate Who Fought The Defense Of Marriage Act, Dies At 88. (2017, September 12). NPR.org. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/12/550502373/edith-windsor-lgbtq-advocate-who-fought-the-defense-of-marriage-act-dies-at-88