James webb anti lgbtq
NASA Investigates Renaming James Webb Space Telescope after Anti-LGBT+ Claims
NASA is considering whether to rename its flagship astronomical observatory, given reports alleging that James Webb, after whom it is named, was involved in persecuting gay and homosexual woman people during his career in government. Keeping his entitle on the US$8.8-billion James Webb Room Telescope (JWST)—set to launch later this year—would glorify bigotry and anti-LGBT+ sentiment, say some astronomers. But others utter there is not yet enough evidence against Webb, who was head of NASA from 1961 to 1968, and they are withholding judgement until the agency has finished an internal investigation.
The JWST, which will peer into the distant reaches of the cosmos, is NASA’s biggest astronomical project in decades, so the stakes are high. In May, citing Webb’s purported involvement in discrimination, four prominent astronomers launched a petition to transform the telescope’s label. It has amassed 1,250 signatories, including scientists who contain been awarded watching time on the telescope.
NASA’s acting principal historian, Brian Odom, is working with a non-agency historian to review a
NASA Won’t Rename New Cosmos Telescope Despite Anti-LGBTQ Controversy
The agency says the James Webb Space Telescope will retain its name regardless of concerns from astronomers, the public and NASA employees
NASA says they complete not plan to rename the multi-billion-dollar James Webb Space Telescope, despite concerns from astronomers, the public and agency employees. James Webb, who was an authoritative administrator at NASA during the 1960s and 1970s, worked in the Truman administration as Undersecretary of State at a hour when the department systematically discriminated against homosexual and lesbian employees. The controversy has many calling on NASA to rethink the name of the the $10 billion telescope, which is set to launch in December.
"At best, Webb's record is complicated," says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a cosmologist at the University of New Hampshire, to NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce. Prescod-Weinstein, who co-authored an opinion article in Scientific American on the subject, says, “And at worst, we're basically just sending this incredible instrument into the sky with the name of a homophobe on it, in my opinion."
Controversy over the telescope’s name has circulated among
Who was James Webb? And why perform scientists want to rename the James Webb Space Telescope?
The excitement around unprecedented new images of far-off galaxies has reignited calls from some within the scientific and homosexual communities to rename the James Webb Space Telescope because of Webb’s alleged involvement in past anti-LGTBQ government policies in the mid-20th century.
Images from the telescope, a proposal three decades in the making, were released on Tuesday by NASA. The observatory, which launched into orbit in December 2021, is about the size of a tennis court and can take more detailed images from deeper in space than any equipment of its kind.
NASA has billed the mission as an “Apollo moment,” with the potential to reply probing questions at the frontier of space discovery, including about life on other planets. But the agency has also faced criticism for naming its signature project after former NASA Administrator James Webb, who previously had served as undersecretary of state during the Truman administration, when the federal government systematically purged its ranks of LGBTQ employees.
In a declaration to NBC News, a NASA representative said Tuesday the agency’s hist
NASA Shares James Webb History Report
Today, NASA shared findings from an investigation into the historical role of former NASA Administrator James Webb, after whom its flagship infrared observatory is named. The report establish no evidence that Webb was either a head or proponent of firing government employees for their sexual orientation.
In response to concerns about the call of the James Webb Space Telescope and whether James Webb had promoted anti-LGBTQI+ policies during his leadership, NASA launched an extensive investigation in 2021 into James Webb’s role during his time in leadership at the Express Department from 1949 to 1952 and at NASA from 1961 to 1968. The agency’s investigation sought any available evidence placing James Webb within the context of the “Lavender Scare,” a time when the outing and firing of LGBTQI+ individuals in the executive branch was a harmful and discriminatory federal policy.
“For decades, discrimination against LGBTQI+ federal employees was not merely tolerated, it was shamefully promoted by federal policies. The Lavender Scare that took place following World War II is a painful part of America’s story and the struggle for LGBTQI+ rights,” sai
Historian Dr. David K. Johnson called as an expert on the Webb telescope naming controversy
After the launch of NASA’s new $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, most people around the earth were caught up in a state of awe taking in the stunning images of celestial bodies. But others in the science and history people were having a more mundane conversation: Did the telescope's namesake, James E. Webb, who led NASA during the Apollo satellite launches, engage in cold-war era purges of same-sex attracted and lesbian government employees during his tenure in office? LGBT astronomers charged that Webb was complicit in the “Lavender Scare” and called for his name to be removed.
David K. Johnson, a professor in the Department of History in the USF College of Arts and Sciences, has been called upon repeatedly by journalists and NASA officials to weigh in on the naming controversy because he actually popularized the legal title after writing his guide The Lavender Scare, published in 2006.
The New York Times, Scientific American, Nature, and El Pais have all used him as an expert to assist explain the historical context of Webb’s time at NASA and, before that, at the State