Partner of first US woman in space condemns NASA’s DEI rollback
Tam O’Shaughnessy labelled the DEI rollbacks as “silly” (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Tam O'Shaughnessy labelled the DEI rollbacks as "silly" (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Tam O’Shaughnessy, the partner of the first American woman in space, Sally Ride, has condemned NASA’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies under the Trump administration.
Sally Ride flew in the space shuttle Challenger in 1983 – at 32, becoming the youngest American in space. She died in 2012, having been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
In April, the space administration became the latest government department to scrub references to equality initiatives from its website, following president Donald Trump’s crack down on so-called “woke cr*p”, an issue that has become a political battleground.
Archives of NASA’s official website, seen by PinkNews, revealed several pages have either been modified or taken down completely, to remove mentions of the LGBTQ+ community, Women’s History Month, Black History Month or DEI initiatives.
One page, formerly called the Diversity at NASA news section, has had its name changed to “Special Observances,” while several DEI resources appear to have been removed from the news list, including a blog post titled NASA has Pride Across the Universe, with the unarchived link now showing a 404 “page not found” error message.
The move followed the president’s executive order aimed at eliminating DEI initiatives from the federal government and the armed forces.
Speaking to PinkNews, following the premiere of Sally, a National Geographic film which documents astronaut and physicist Ride’s life, O’Shaughnessy described the roll back as a “huge step backwards”, adding: It’s going to affect queer scientists, queer astronauts. They’re going to be more careful, more cautious, cover more. It’s just horrible.
“Sally would want NASA to continue with its DEI programmes until the world is equitable and our country has equal pay for equal jobs between men and women and appreciates the diversity of human beings. She would be all for men and women in the astronaut core, trans – whatever – being themselves, being open and honest.”
O’Shaughnessy added that it “just seems silly, those three words – diversity, equity and inclusion – they’re wonderful values, they’re wonderful words. It’s really hard to understand why this is happening.
“It’s going to hurt the astronaut core and NASA’s dreams for the future.”
Ride and O’Shaughnessy had been in a relationship from 1985 until the former’s death. The space trailblazer never “thought of herself as gay or queer or bisexual” because she did not like labels, her partner insisted.
“Sally lived her life exactly the way she wanted to,” O’Shaughnessy told PinkNews. “But the fact of the matter is that she was a queer woman, perhaps bisexual. Who cares?
“To me, part of being queer is sort of being true to who you are. There’s that old saying: to thine own self be true. It’s a unique, universal message. Part of being true to yourself is being who you are and being honest with yourself.
“Sally was always true to herself. She was very comfortable in her own skin even though she was private. That’s a remarkable, wonderful thing.”
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
