AstroDyke linked to an article at Science Magazine called "Shattering the Glass Closet", about the LGBT folks in science careers. Rochelle Diamond sounds like someone I'd like. She said:
Diamond believes—despite the difficulties she's experienced—that it is much better to be openly gay in the workplace than not. "It is an advantage to be out, because when you are out you quickly find the people who are accepting of you and those who aren't. Then you can decide to go where you are accepted."
She seems like a rip-the-bandaid-off-quickly kind of person. I can see where she's coming from; sometimes it's a good strategy to see right away who's on your side and who isn't. Sadly, it could also be political suicide, and when your career is on the line that's a pretty gutsy method. Looking back at my days in grad school, I didn't know too many openly gay people; a few friends of mine were gay (whom I knew about at least), but they preferred that others not know, or just didn't talk about it. It's interesting to see that in some cases things are getting better diversity-wise and acceptance-wise, but clearly (cough cough Prop 8 cough cough) this country still has a long way to go.
