Crosspost: First-ever study of LGBT+ experiences in physics reveals red flags

Written by Kim Lamke Calderón for Phys.org

University of California-San Diego Executive Vice Chancellor, Elizabeth Simmons, co-authored a comprehensive study on the experiences of LGBTQ+ identifying members of the physics community. Credit: University of California-San Diego

LGBT+ physicists often face harassment and other behaviors that make them leave the profession, according to a new study, which comes as physics as a discipline has attempted to grapple with equity and inclusion issues.

The authors found that the two biggest factors that influence a person's decision to leave physics are the overall climate of the organization they belong to and more specifically observing exclusionary behavior.

"People feel shunned, excluded, and they were continually having to readjust and twist themselves to fit into the physics community," said Ramón Barthelemy, assistant professor of physics at the University of Utah and co-lead author of the study. "LGBT+ people are inherently a part of this field. If you want physics to be a place that anyone can participate, we have to talk about these issues."

"Nearly everybody I know who is LGBT+ in physics has left, to be honest," said Tim Atherton, associate professor of physics at Tufts University and co-lead author of the study. "We're talking dozens and dozens of students and faculty. I can empathize with the experiences of the study's participants from some of my own experiences."

Read the rest of the article at: https://phys.org/news/2022-05-first-ever-lgbt-physics-reveals-red.html