First Gay Man to Have a Heavenly Body

Now there’s a headline I never thought I’d be writing on this site. I wanted to note, however, that George Takei, aka Star Trek’s Hikaru Sulu, now has an asteroid named after him. This makes him perhaps the first out gay man (or out LGBT person, for that matter) to be given such an honor (though I’m happy to be proven wrong here).

The asteroid 1994 GT9 has been renamed 7307 Takei, an official designation approved by the International Astronomical Union (not just some dubious commercial star-naming service). An astronomy professor at Mount Holyoke College nominated Takei “in part out of appreciation for his work with the Japanese American Citizens League and with leading gay rights group Human Rights Campaign.”

(Thanks to April for the tip. Image modified from one © Diane Krauss under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.)

[Update, 10/3: John Marble of the National Stonewall Democrats, wrote to me in an e-mail:

I would love to see a heavenly body named after Dr. Frank Kameny. He is the astronomer who gave up his career after being fired by the U.S. government in 1957 for being gay. Dr. Kameny then began his activism in LGBT equality and became a founding pillar in our movement. . . .

Last month, Dr. Kameny’s memorabilia from his activism was initiated into the Smithsonian Institution (his papers are housed at the Library of Congress). At the dedication ceremony, a biographer noted how – if he had not been fired in 1957 for being gay – there would most likely be a star named after him.

I’ve attached a photo taken last week at an event by our D.C. Chapter (the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club) of Dr. Kameny and our new Executive Director Jon Hoadley. We both are extremely grateful for – and still a bit in awe of – the work of Dr. Kameny.

Excellent point, and especially appropriate during LGBT History Month. Bob Witeck of LGBT marketing firm Witeck-Combs adds in another e-mail:

John, I cannot resist adding 2 footnotes as well about Dr. Kameny.

For more about Frank, send folks to www.kamenypapers.org and you also will see the video of his civil rights protest signs and buttons on display at the Smithsonian.

The second footnote is more breathtaking, at least to me.

As many of you may know, Frank was fired from his federal employment at the U.S. Army Map Service for being a homosexual in the 1950’s. Ironically, last Friday, at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, by chance I sat down to enjoy a sandwich with two women who handle diversity recruitment and retention at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (yes, the 21st century name for the archaic U.S. Army Map Service).

They were attending Out & Equal to grow their skills and knowledge about the fair and equal treatment of their own LGBT employees. Fifty years later, what a wonderful closure on a terrible chapter.

Indeed.]