Sorry Dr. Ride.
Dr. Sally Ride, the first woman in space, passed away a couple of days ago, and Andrew Sullivan is absolutely right to call her out on hiding in the closet as long as she did. It was very sad-this woman was an icon of feminism. She was also a lesbian. However, she never came out in the media. She did have a 27 year relationship with another woman, but never said anything about it-only her family and close friends knew. I can understand why in some cases-she was in the military during the worst years of the ban on LGBT people in the military, and she was an astronaut in a very racist, sexist and homophobic agency of the government-NASA. However, even though she could not have come out in 1983, what about 1993? or 2003? She could have said something, she could have been an inspiration to younger lesbians like me, but she chose not to. Harvey Milk once said that the closet was our enemy. And it’s STILL our enemy. Sally Ride chose to sit on the sidelines when she could have gotten in the game and changed things sooner. I respect Kristy McNichol even more than I already did for doing what someone like Sally Ride wouldn’t even think of doing. I’m sorry, but coming out in your obituary doesn’t count. Kristy didn’t do that-Sally Ride did.
