June is Pride Month and to celebrate we’re talking about famous members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the notable things they have done, and the impact they’ve had on the community. Following on from our award-winning Pride in... series, we will be focusing on LGBTQIA+ members in STEM.
To have pride means to feel good and worthy about who you are or what you have done. As well as being a word to describe how people feel, Pride is also the name of a march and a celebration of people from the LGBTQIA+ community. Pride is a time for people in the LGBTQIA+ community to celebrate and take pride in who they are. It is also a time for people to talk about what still needs to be done for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Here's a look at some famous members of the LGBTQIA+ community and what they’ve been up to since we released our PRIDE in… series:
- Tim Cook
Tim Cook is the CEO of Apple Inc, the world’s largest technology company. After years of keeping his sexuality private, Cook decided to come out as gay in 2014 after receiving letters from younger gay people struggling with their sexuality, and feeling a responsibility to show them that being gay is ok.
“I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”
- Kate Stone
Kate Stone is a transgender physicist and engineer who founded the company Novalia, which develops products using Interactive Printed Media. Stone is also a member of the Editors Code of Practice committee, which sets a code of standards that voluntarily subscribing newspapers and magazines have to adhere to. Stone won a battle to have the fact of someone being transgender being irrelevant to media coverage unless it is a key factor in the story being reported.
“Through calmness and kindness, we can overcome almost anything.”
- Sophie Wilson
Sophie Wilson is a transgender computer scientist who helped to develop a type of micro-computer processor called ARM which is present in more than 60% of all smartphone devices today. In 2011, Wilson was listed in Maximum PC as number 8 in an article titled “The 15 Most Important Women in Tech History”. In 2019, Wilson was made a Commander of the British Empire.
You can learn about more famous members of the LGBTQIA+ community in our award-winning PRIDE in… series, which can be found here.
