By Maya Belle
In the past few decades, being part of the LGBTQ+ community has become more widely accepted than ever. The younger generations are becoming exceedingly accepting, and even the older generations are beginning to come around. However, there is still a huge hidden prejudice against LGBTQ+ people in STEM, one we must overcome.
In the STEM workplace, there is a huge expectation to not mix your personal and work life. According to an online survey from 2013, 43% of scientists kept their sexual orientation hidden from most of their colleagues, despite evidence that suggests hiding your sexual identity leads to loneliness, isolation and difficulties in maintaining relationships. While sexual orientation is not a field that should be hyper-fixated on, the mindset of “It won’t matter if I’m gay as long as I’m the best” can lead to the assumption that you must be the best or well accomplished to redeem yourself from your sexual identity. Additionally, researchers who are open about their sexual identity may be perceived as not being as serious about their job; an inherently heteronormative assumption that assumes that everyone is straight, and those who are not are speaking too much on their sexuality.
Another huge issue in the STEM community in terms of LGBTQ+ acceptance is expectations and social biases. Many STEM fields are considered to be traditionally masculine, and men who are gay or bisexual may be perceived as more feminine, thus discouraged from going into fields that are more “masculine.” With all of the prejudice stacked against LGBTQ+ students, this ends up translating into dropout rates. In a 2018 study in Science Advances, students who were part of sexual minorities ended up being less likely to make it to the fourth year of a STEM program; for every 100 straight students that got through, 90 didn’t.
With all of the prejudices and biases stacked against LGBTQ+ students, what can the STEM field do to make things more accepting and welcoming? Representation is an extremely important and effective way to get people into STEM. If an aspiring scientist sees their sexuality represented in STEM, they will know that they themselves can get into STEM and research in whatever field they desire. By using simple representation, and getting rid of the biases against LGBTQ+ students, even straight students will become more accepting of their LGBTQ+ peers. To conclude, support is the biggest tool we can use to make STEM more welcoming for everyone, no matter their sexual identity.
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