Thread by @RocketToLulu

Shot:
Exclusive: Documents reveal NASA’s internal struggles over renaming Webb telescope - by @alexwitze @Nature
nature.com/articles/d4158…

Chaser:
#RenameJWST: NASA Hid Findings Affirming James Webb Homophobia - by @IBJIYONGI, @iamstarnord, @niais & myself patreon.com/posts/64153800

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais I spent this past weekend reading the full FOIA request and let me tell you, I have
A
LOT
OF
FEELINGS
AND
THOUGHTS.

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais I'll try to provide a brief overview of when NASA knew what later today (but believe it or not, I have other things to do in my day than help the agency find their way out of a paper bag). First off, some high level takeaways from reading these documents

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais It is clear that, from the beginning, NASA leadership and personnel minimized the importance of the objects we and other LGBTQ+ people raised. Our critiques were characterized as a "social media scuffle". Internal efforts that guided research seem aimed at a "no evidence" result.

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais NASA staff stated that it would only be a problem if they found evidence that Webb was "overtly anti-gay". At one point, there was an informal survey to take the temperature of the astronomy community on the name change, which consisted of calling ~10 faculty who are not LGBTQ+

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais I can't imagine literally telling your colleague "I called ten straight people to ask whether this thing that clearly matters to queer people is a problem" and not questioning it. What clearer example of "straight cissex astronomers are the REAL astronomers" could there be?

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais Very early-- like February 2021 early-- a name-redacted person had already provided NASA staff with academic literature describing how the purge of gay employees from the State Dept was not confined to State, but ignited a wider ranging purge of LGBTQ+ people from federal service

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais Also, a word about THIS revelation, which comes near the end of the docs: 1) so the head of NASA outreach actually instigation the "excuses for homophobia" blog post, and 2) the head of NASA's outreach thinks queer people's concerns are "cancel culture"

https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/1507382527887134722?s=20&t=04t2fs5tX81Qh373TMSyYQ

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais I found this email horrifying but not surprising: in 2018 I attended a two day workshop on NASA's outreach efforts that Kristen Erickson led. On day one, I was one of ~3 external people present to offer thoughts and advice on NASA's efforts (cont'd)

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais The other people were folks in marketing and design. As part of that workshop, I raised to Kristen that all of the statistics she presented on the reach of NASA activities were broken down by (binary) gender, but she seemed to not be providing data for demographics by race etc

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais When I questioned this and pointed out the limitations of the data in NASA being able to provide culturally competent and responsive outreach programming, she pushed back that NASA makes things for "everyone"-- HOWEVER

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais I pursued it and told her that things designed for "everyone" are typically not good for anyone outside whoever already thinks of themselves as the audience-- which in the case of space science is still overwhelmingly white and male. She didn't want to hear it

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais The designers present told me they thought designing for "everyone" was ludicrous and that if that was going to be the guidance then their time was wasted being there. On day two, none of them returned and I was the only remaining outside person attending.

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais ANYWAY BACK TO WEBB. So, from the beginning NASA had internally admitted that Webb was involved in the Lavender Scare at State, and also had been advised by external experts that this had led to wider purges of LGBTQ+ people

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais Further on in the docs, a couple months later, emails from someone who we assume is the external historian they contracted pointed out that the firing of Clifford Norton, during the time Webb was NASA administrator, was almost certainly directed from the executive level

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais In the case documents, Norton's direct supervisor actually advocated that he would prefer to NOT fire him because he was a good employee-- but it was NASA policy and leadership that forced him to. Policy and leadership = Webb, the NASA administrator

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais Again: you don't get to give Webb credit for the Apollo program but excuse him from persecuting LGBTQ+ people just because you like one and not the other

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais And speaking of administrators: let's talk about the ultimate decision by current NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. In October, the final decision on Webb naming came in the form of an email to six journalists saying that research had been exhausted and there was "no evidence"

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais 1) research efforts had not been exhausted. NASA's Chief Historian and their externally contracted historian had not yet access the Truman archive because of COVID restrictions, and 2) they already had ample evidence of Webb's involvement

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais Also, NASA repeatedly dismissed requests for updates from the NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee. I was a member of the APAC until October 2021, when I quit because of Nelson's decision and handling of the matter (more on that here: patreon.com/posts/57248140)

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais We (the APAC) repeatedly asked for updates and were given the incredibly content-free public statement or \ told that they weren't finished yet. That is not how you treat a group of people who are spending their valuable time trying to guide your agency from doing stupid ass shit

@IBJIYONGI @iamstarnord @niais Well, I am now late for a meeting! More in a bit.

So on a personal note, I can't even begin to convey how depressing and infuriating it is to read a ~400 page packet of my colleagues all trying to figure out how to ignore me and their other LGBTQ+ fellow astronomers

I will also point out that, while these documents are limited in that they are not every email, nor every communication (e.g. phone calls, meetings, etc), I don't see a bunch of straight astronomers emailing NASA to advocate alongside us. In fact, I count one: Jason Wright

Big, grateful shout-out to @Astro_Wright, who did reach out to press NASA about what was happening with the research into Webb's history, and who has for years advocated for recognition of LGBTQ+ astronomers who were impacted by these purges, like Frank Kameny

I am left with this being my main feeling about the entire mess:

https://twitter.com/IBJIYONGI/status/1507380868179968009?s=20&t=04t2fs5tX81Qh373TMSyYQ

Big outstanding question for me: what happened between where the investigation was in late 2021 (where they had evidence but had not yet finished bc of not being able to access the Truman archive) and Bill Nelson emailing a lie/his decision to 6 random journalists

Clearly the research was compromised from the beginning, in that NASA personnel seemed to discount the evidence they had in hand in favor of Straight People's Opinions (TM). But also, there WAS research, there was an investigation, and THERE COULD HAVE BEEN A REPORT

NASA leadership even states the importance of explaining the decision to the astronomy community, and cites the lack of process around the original name as the source of the entire mess (that, and naming your telescope after a homophobe)

Ultimately, this decision (like the decision to purge a gay person from NASA in the Norton case) is made at the executive level, and so much like Webb deserves our ire, so does Bill Nelson, for undermining NASA staff and lying to all of us

And make no mistake: it is a bald faced fucking LIE that there was no evidence. Just because a bunch of straight cissex people think it's not a big deal for LGBTQ+ people to be driven out of their jobs doesn't mean that's what the historical record actually says

And finally, to anyone who so much as thinks to argue that Webb was a "man of his time": FUCK YOU. You know who else was a man of his time? Clifford Norton, who was subjected to an overnight interrogation at NASA headquarters and then fired, all for being gay

If you read all my angry tweets today, your prize is these tuneful moon lesbians
vm.tiktok.com/ZTda1T6PG/