LGBTQ+ Wikithon!

To celebrate the second International Day of LGBTQ+ People in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (#LGBTSTEMday), UCL’s Out in Geography network, the UCL Women in Physics Group and House of STEM led a LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer & questioning) Wikipedia edit-a-thon in the department. Our mission was simple; improve the quality and quantity of Wikipedia pages about notable LGBTQ+ scientists and make their work in science more visible by training beginner editors and activists. 

The following is written by Prof. Anson Mackay, Dr. Jess Wade, Dr. Alice White & myself.

Why do we need LGBT STEM Day?

There is increasing evidence that harassment is a serious issue in academia which can create workplaces of fear and isolation. In both the US and the UK, new efforts have been made to identify and record the issues that LGBTQ+ scientists face. In 2014 The American Physical Society set up the Ad Hoc Committee of LGBT+ Issues to provide recommendations for greater inclusion, and investigate representation in physics with a push towards policy change. Their report, LGBT+ Climate in Physics, revealed that over one- third of LGBT+ physicists considered leaving. Transgender and gender-nonconforming physicists encountering the most hostile environments, including being misgendered. 

In the UK this year, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Society of Chemistry released a report titled Exploring the Workplace for LGBT+ Physical Scientists based on a survey of over 1000 respondents, revealed similar issues of retention to the US report, with 32% of trans scientists experiencing exclusion within the past year. However, scientists who felt comfortable coming ‘out’ reported higher positive perceptions of the workplace, demonstrating that colleagues who are proactively open and welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community can dramatically improve the work experience of LGBTQ+ people play an important role. 

One aspect of inclusivity is amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ scientists and creating visibility of their achievements. This is exactly what Pride in STEM set to achieve with international LGBTSTEMDay which falls on the 5th of July, and is organised in conjunction with House of STEM, oSTEM, 500QueerScientists and many others. The event invites people to contribute to the #LGBTSTEMday hashtag on social media by sharing stories, images and videos of themselves or role models. Making sure these role models are visible on Wikipedia is a gesture of support that anyone, no matter their own identity, can do.  

Why edit Wikipedia?

Wikipedia is one of the world’s most-viewed websites. Every day, Wikipedia is used in classrooms, lecture theatres and doctor’s offices. Recent evidence demonstrated that Wikipedia actually shapes science so it’s important that research and the key people conducting that research are visible. But Wikipedia isn’t as representative as it should be. Content is driven solely by volunteer editors it isn’t perfect - some areas, such as content about or relating to the LGBTQ+ community, is missing or not yet well-developed.

By creating LGBTQ+ related content, we can celebrate scientists who are often overlooked, whilst simultaneously improving the quality of the historical record, and ensuring the people scrolling through the internet find the LGBTQ+ role models are visible on the internet. Wikipedia edit-a-thons have taken place all over the world in recognition of the power of the site to reshape popular history narratives, covering topics like women footballers and black and minority ethnic engineers.   

During the edit-a-thon, the audience heard from Prof. Robert Mills (UCL, History of Art),: Professor of Medieval Studies, who is lead on UCL’s The Queer Tapestry Exhibition, showcasing the histories and voices of UCL’s LGBTQ+ community from the past 50 years and beyond.  Among the 12 people highlighted in The Queer Tapestry are engineer/racing driver/pilot Roberta Cowell, the first known British person to undergo male-to-female sex reassignment surgery, and A. E. Housman, a poet, and professor of Latin in the 19th century. 

Two scientists featured on The Queer Tapestry who did not have Wikipedia pages prior to the edit-a-thon, but now do, are chemical engineer Savitri Hensman, who studied at UCL before becoming a social activist and launching London’s Black Lesbian and Gay Centre, and Jamie Gardiner, a mathematician who was the first president of UCL’s GaySoc and is now vice-president of Liberty Victoria, Australia's longest-serving organisation defending and extending civil and human rights. .

Dr Ying Lia Li and Professor Anson Mackay introduced the afternoon’s activities and then there were talks from Dr Jess Wade, creator of over 500 Wikipedia biographies on underrepresented scientists, and Dr Alice White, the Wikimedian in Residence at the Wellcome Collection who provided training.

The success of this Wikithon has already set the wheels in motion towards a got us planning a larger event for LGBTQ+ History Month in February 2020, with a focus on increasing representation of notable historical LGBTQ+ individuals across all disciplines, working in collaboration with historians and museum experts.