a 4 minutes read…
During the 2021 pride month a standout article on LGBTQ+ visibility in mathematical research was published by Bonato, Bruce and Buckmire (1). It highlights some of the current challenges LGBTQ+ scientists are still facing, but also emphasises the significant improvements that have been made over the years. In this blog post, we highlight key messages from their work and we present upcoming events for both current and future researchers.
I am Rowel, a second year PhD student in mathematics. Personally, I have never faced any serious backlash in my professional field for being LGBTQ+. However, this unfortunately does not hold for everyone. In a recent study (2) (2019) under British physicists, it was found that 28% of the LGBTQ+ employees has considered leaving due to the work climate towards LGBTQ+ people, with respect to 16% under non-LGBTQ+ employees (see the report for more results and details). There are also alarming results under undergraduate LGBTQ+ students in technological fields, as a report from 2016 indicates that they are 7% more likely to drop out of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields (3).
In a recent study (2) (2019) under British physicists, it was found that 28% of the LGBTQ+ employees has considered leaving due to the work climate towards LGBTQ+ people
In order to improve, promoting visibility and normalising LGBTQ+ employees is a given. LGBTQ+ role models in any science can play a major part in helping aspiring LGBTQ+ researchers feel less lonely and helping them establish a network with other LGBTQ+ researchers, see for example 500 Queer Scientists (4). The established journal Nature also published a series of interviews with LGBTQ+ researchers, thereby giving them a stage on which to share their experiences with a wide audience (5).
For mathematics, some significant steps to a strong network between LGBTQ+ mathematicians (and other STEM researchers) have been made, for example by hosting panels during the annual Joint Mathematical Meetings, sponsored by Spectra (6), the organisation for LGBTQ+ mathematicians. However, how should we represent ourselves in, for example, the 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians (7), Saint-Petersburg, Russia, when it is still illegal there to talk positively about LGBTQ+ subjects with young people (8)?
how should we represent ourselves in (…) Russia, when it is still illegal there to talk positively about LGBTQ+ subjects with young people (8)?
Over the last couple of years, initiatives for conferences specifically dedicated to LGBTQ+ mathematicians have been started. There have been many wonderful examples and we will list a couple of past and future conferences:
• LG&TBQ conference (9) (2019)
• LGBTQ+Math day (10) (2020)
• Trans Math Day (2021)
• Queer and Trans Mathematicians in Combinatorics Conference (11) (2021)
• Spectra Conference (12) (2021)
• LGBTQ+STEMinar (13) (2022), [Upcoming and recurring annually]
• Spec(Q) (14) (2022) [upcoming]
In Bonato et al. an elaborate description of how the LGBTQ+Math day went and more information on the events described above can be found.
Due to the Corona crisis, unfortunately many of the events that promote LGBTQ+ visibility were postponed to next year and with recent political shifts over the years that have introduced measures against LGBTQ+ people, it is even more important for current and future researchers to be visible.
If you, as a current or future researcher are interested in participating in (either by presenting your work or as a spectator) accessible and safe conferences, you can join! Spectra will be holding their first online conference this year, and includes research talks and social events (all online) and thus easily accessible. Furthermore, it is even stated that this will be a first of multiple upcoming conferences for LGBTQ+ mathematicians, so more to come! For a more general scientific conference, the LGBTQ+STEMinar is currently deciding their upcoming conference, but may opt for a hybrid (both an on-site and virtual) version.
Notes
(1) https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202106/rnoti- p998.pdf
(2) https://www.rsc.org/globalassets/04- campaigning- outreach/campaigning/lgbt- report/lgbt- report_ web.pdf
(3) https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/3/eaao6373
(4) https://500queerscientists.com
(5) https://media.nature.com/original/magazine- assets/d41586- 020- 02949- 3/d41586- 020- 02949- 3.pdf
(6) http://lgbtmath.org/index.html
(7) https://icm2022.org
(8) https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/12/11/no- support/russias- gay- propaganda- law- imperils- lgbt- youth
(9) https://people.math.wisc.edu/ ̃kent/LG&TBQ.html
(10) https://math.ryerson.ca/ ̃abonato/LGBTQ/
(11) http://queertransmath.com
(12) https://sites.google.com/view/spectra- math- conference/home
(13) https://lgbtstem.wordpress.com/lgbtq- steminar- 2022/
(14) http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/activities/22- 23/SpecQ
