From Sally Ride to Billie Jean King, Jessie Lewthwaite celebrates the queer women whose brilliance, courage, and innovation changed history on Earth and beyond
Last month, the world held its breath as the astronauts of the Artemis mission safely returned to Earth. Seeing such an impressive feat of science in a world that, at the moment, seems to be getting dumber by the day provided so much hope that maybe humanity wasn’t as bad as all that. As the astronauts disembarked from the craft and one particular astronaut was helped into the light, the lesbian world collectively grabbed our phones. I don’t have the data on this, but I can only imagine the spike of traffic on Google that day as all sapphics collectively asked, “Is Christina Koch a lesbian?”
Unfortunately, we all found out that despite looking incredibly gay, astronaut Christina Koch is in fact not a lesbian. However, that did not stop sapphics the world over from making thirst-trap edits of her. Christina, if you’re reading this, you are for sure an honorary lesbian, which I assure you is a much higher prize than whatever award Trump gave you. However, this got me thinking, because although Christina ended up not being family, I found with very minimal research that the first American woman to go to space was! Sally Ride brought lesbian excellence to space way back in 1983, and since then two more out lesbians have followed in her footsteps towards the stars: Wendy Lawrence and Anne McClain.
It will come as no surprise to anyone that the achievements of women, let alone queer women, have been mostly overlooked in history. Many names that are famous for great deeds get divorced from their queerness the more widespread their renown becomes. And many who have had an incalculable impact are never to become household names. In my relentless efforts to monetise my ADHD hyperfocus, I feel that this is an injustice. Thirsting after straight women, a long-held lesbian tradition for sure, isn’t required when we do have so many excellent queer women we could be celebrating.
If you want a woman who could combine brilliance with moral courage, Florence Nightingale deserves a place in the canon. She revolutionised nursing by insisting on cleanliness, structure, and evidence-based care, and she also brought sharp statistical thinking to public health. In a world that tried to limit women to ornamental roles, she became one of the most influential figures in modern medicine. That kind of achievement is not just competence; it is a full-scale refusal to be underestimated. Her name is so well known, even outside medical circles, but many don’t know she was queer, history having erased that part of her identity.
Billie Jean King is one of the most important figures in tennis history, not just because she was an extraordinary player, but because she helped change the sport itself. Her famous 1973 win over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” became a cultural moment that challenged sexist assumptions about women athletes and helped boost respect for women’s tennis. She is a big part of the reason that the big four Grand Slams of tennis are one of the only areas in sport that have equal prize money for their divisions.
Lynn Conway, a trans woman and lesbian, invented the microchip that would go on to allow for mobile phones. Dr Sara Josephine Baker invented flyscreen, which has gone on to save literally millions of lives from diseases carried by mosquitoes. I really could go on forever, but hopefully you all see my point. In a time when the world feels like it’s regressing to caveman politics, our ancestors remind us: we’ve always been the ones who reach for the stars — literally!
Photo | Christina Koch by Bill Stafford
