Outing Sally Ride: Her sexual orientation has nothing to do with space ships

yahoo ^ | 7/24/12 | Virginia Heffernan

[Uncle Slayton]

Maybe the idea of gays in space is just so exciting that it has overwhelmed Sally Ride's eulogists, who really should be parsing her achievements in astrophysics, accident investigations and middle-school education, rather than trying to make hay out of her mellow lesbian romantic life.

[dayglored]

Found it.

The First Woman in Space

[Oztrich Boy]

You think our government, under President Reagan, placed a lesbian in a position to be idolized by our daughters by sending her in to space?

It's worse. If you look at the timeline, the government turned her lesbian by sending her into space.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

She never had a Prople Magazine coming out that I recall, so I admire her accomplishments even more as she apparently wanted her legacy to be one of science not sexuality. RIP.

[familyop]

"I did not write the story, but now we as a nation must contend with the reality that our government placed a lesbian in a position to be idolized by our young daughters."

Well said and true.

[Impala64ssa]

I once heard Bob Grant say that long ago homosexuality was the love that dare not speak its name. Now its the love that won’t SHUT UP! They’re here, they’re queer, DILLIGAS??!!

[The Duke]

THE_WRONG_STUFF_PING!

[dayglored]

> A prior soviet woman burned up on re-entry. Her initial distress calls were reputed to be heard by two Italian ham operators.

Geez, I never heard that before. Got a link?

[al baby]

I agree she had them both licked

[La Lydia]

Dude! And on purpose.

[nascarnation]

Do lesbians have a statistically shorter life span?

[DBrow]

You get a lot of radiation in low Earth orbit. For a rad worker on the ground, the annual limit is 5 REMs, for astronauts, they had to extend it to 15 or they’d bench all the astronauts.

Not just xrays, they get hit with protons, neutrons, and far more galactic cosmic rays than us Earthlings get.

So there are factors in cancer and health that are different for astronauts. Probably overriding the health issues of homosexuality.

I find it notable that she did not flaunt it, assuming it’s true and not posthumous homosexual propaganda.

[brytlea]

Like most of our sexuality, it is (or should be) a private thing. It’s the media who thinks it is significant. I cannot for the life of me imagine why. Sally Ride did amazing things. None of them, as far as I know, have anything to do with who she had a relationship with.

[LuvFreeRepublic]

I don't care if she was a lesbian and I don't see her sexual orientation as something that is going to have a negative effect on my daughters. I do expect my daughters to see her accomplishments as something to admire.

[mkjessup]

I didn’t think my little limerick was all that bad, but apparently someone else higher up the food chain did ... ;)

[familyop]

"You peel back all this women’s lib stuff and it’s basically women that hate men (and themselves)."

Also well said and true.

[Pharmboy]

The life expectancy of white women in the US is 81.2 years. Sally Ride died from pancreatic cancer which has nothing whatsoever to do with her lesbian life. Genes have the most to do with this particularly nasty cancer, but alcohol and cigarettes are associated environmental factors.

[nascarnation]

https://www.sallyridescience.com/sallyride/bio

https://www.sallyridescience.com/bios/oshaughnessy.html

[mkjessup]

You want to explain how being a lesbian causes pancreatic cancer? Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer at age 56. Was he a lesbian too?

I've heard rumors that Steve Jobs indeed, was a lesbian - he loved women. :)

[SkyDancer]

Doesn’t matter. I’ve always admired her. Got me introduced to “Mustang Sally”

[Iron Munro]

Lesbians In Space !