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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

An important part of Ride’s life and legacy is that she was queer. She did not hide her relationship with Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, but she was very private about it. Idk if she was the first LGBTQ US astronaut, as someone commented here, but she was the first that we know of.

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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

There is a touching essay by her sister Bear (who is gay, and a minister) about her sister’s “fundamental sense of privacy,” and how people might have been surprised to learn about Ride’s relationship with Tam.

nbcnews.com

Why Sally Ride waited until her death to tell the world she was gay

In life, Sally Ride became famous as America's first woman in space — and in death, she's now added to her fame as the first acknowledged gay astronaut.The revelation came in a low-key way: Monday's o...

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Robert "The Bobby Yaga" McNees @mcnees.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

I was pretty quickly accused of erasing her queer identity after that first post. Not what I intended — I’ve written about it quite a bit in the past, and had the follow-up posts in the thread ready to go — but I understand why it reads that way.

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