Famous Gay Scientists

The history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals is replete with famous personalities from the arts. Growing up predominantly as a science student, as well as being part of the LGBT community, can be pretty discouraging. In my personal experience, I do remember this nagging feeling that I had to be good in the arts if I were gay. This meant years being spent reading literature extensively and stressing myself over art pieces which I can make no head or tail of. Then it came to me – being gay does not mean that one has to be good in the arts, or good at speaking, or find a job in the theatre when one grows up; it’s about being who you are. Forgive the platitude, but at the very heart of my awakening lies the idea that if there should be anything I should have learnt growing up gay, it is that there is no one right way to lead my life. I am gay. And I suck at the arts.

So for all of you out there who, like me, embrace the science geek in you as much as your homosexuality, I have compiled a list of some LGBT personalities who have succeeded in their own respective scientific fields. I do hope that you would be able to find in them a source of inspiration.

Name	Profession
Eric Allman	Computer programmer
Vera Gedroitz	Surgeon, poet
Tim Gill	Software entrepreneur, LGBT rights activist
Warren Goldfarb	Mathematician, professor
G. H. Hardy	Mathematician
Matt Heinz	Physician, politician
Magnus Hirschfeld	Doctor, LGBT rights activist
Kate Hutton	Seismologist
Richard Isay	Author, psychiatrist
John Maynard Keynes	Economist
Alfred Kinsey	Biologist, human sexuality researcher
Gary Kinsman	Sociologist
Oswalt Kolle	Sexologist
Kerryn Phelps	Physician
James B. Pollack	Astrophysicist
William Thetford	Psychologist
Patrick Trevor-Roper	Doctor, LGBT rights activist
Bruce Voeller	HIV/AIDS researcher
Winston Wilde	Sexologist, author