Pride 2022 Celebrates Scientific Advances of LGBTQ+ Community

By: France-Elvie Banda
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
New York City’s Pride unveiled its 2022 theme, “Unapologetically Us,” honoring the strength and resiliency of the LGBTQ+ amidst the pandemic and compounding unique hardships and targeted legislations. According to OutRight Action International, the United States is among 103 countries around the world that hosts pride events, with new countries being added to the list each year. Pride celebrations act not only as a historic reminder of the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equality, but also as a measure of societal progress. Fifty-three years since the first pride parades began as protests at Stonewall, the LGBTQ+ community continues to fight for safety and equitable treatment across the world. 
 
Throughout our nation’s history, there are countless examples of individuals in the LGBTQ+ community who have made significant contributions to science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine—even in the midst of their struggles for safety and equitable treatment.  The following individuals are a small sample of those who have secured their place in U.S. history: 
 
•  Ben Barres, PhD (1954 - 2017), a pioneering neurobiologist at Stanford University whose research focused on glia brain cells, revolutionized the understanding of the brain and was the first openly transgender member to be elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.  
 
•  Ruth Gates, PhD (1962 - 2018), a pioneering marine biologist, whose creation of climate resistant “super corals,” lead in the conservation and protection of coral reefs. 
 
•  Richard Summerball, PhD, a prominent mycologist and LGBTQ+ activist since the 1970s gay liberation movement, is a leading expert on fungi’s impact on human and environmental health.