The need for the recruitment and representation of the LGBTQ community in academia is becoming more acknowledged, and the community has created their own space in the field.
Jessica Fisher is an agender transgender woman and graduate student at Georgia State, pursuing a doctorate in sociology and a graduate certificate in women’s, gender and sexuality studies.
She believes that representation matters in her field due to the proximity of the subject matter to the LGBTQ community.
“Their voices being in the room, in the editorial review boards and things like that are going to help shape the best curriculum, the best scholarship and better departments and so on,” Fisher said. “If you don’t have LGBTQ people in the room or at the table, then that’s going to be noticeable.”
Fisher is a “proud assistant with the Office of Diversity Education Planning” but has also faced some issues with Georgia State regarding funding.
“There’s a lot of lip service paid to this idea that this work is valuable to the campus community and the culture of the university, [but] it doesn’t show in the pocketbook,” she said.
Astronomer and Georgia State professor Todd Henry has seen massive changes during his career because no one was “out of the closet” when completing his undergraduate.
“I’d like to think I was part of a group of people who helped people become more comfortable with [being out]. But certainly society overall just became more comfortable,” Henry said. “Now you do see quite a presence [and] we have an entire committee devoted to LGBTQ people in astronomy.”
Henry says that throughout his career, the astronomy program and its faculty members have been very supportive but he can’t say the same for Georgia State administration.
While the Georgia State community is diverse and welcoming, the administration has a history of equality issues, and some are still not resolved.
Before the historic 2015 Supreme Court ruling that granted same-sex marriages equal rights and protection, Henry could not get health benefits for his partner through the university.
“You don’t get any points for doing the right thing because you were forced to do so,” he said. “I give Georgia State no points for ‘fixing the partner benefits problem’ because they had the power to do things, and the president and the [former] provost chose to do nothing.”
Still, the community creates a lot of positivity and outreach from within to make academia more inclusive and accessible.
Henry helped create and chair a committee for the American Astronomical Society called FAMOUS, which grants funds for astronomical meetings, and outreach to underrepresented scientists.
Susan Talburt, a Georgia State professor in women’s, gender and sexuality studies, has been open about her identity throughout her entire career.
When entering the academic world, she followed “her interests and heart,” even if it wasn’t the most well-known or accepted field of study.
Talburt shares advice to help the up-and-coming professionals within the community who feel uneasy about the future and how their identities will influence their careers.
“Don’t compromise your values and don’t hide,” she said. “You spend a whole lot of time and a whole lot of years in your working lives, and if you present yourself as something you’re not or if you’re engaged in things that you’re not interested in, it’s going to be deadening. So follow your heart.”
