LGBTQ scientists revel in new James Webb space telescope images, revile its name

What’s in a name?

According to LGBTQ astrophysicists and activists, in the case of the spectacular new James Webb Space Telescope, it’s a long history of homophobia and complicity in the U.S. government’s purge of LGBTQ people from its ranks.

Related: Florida school axes anti-LGBTQ bullying prevention measure because of Don’t Say Gay law

As NASA administrator in the 1960’s, James E. Webb led the space agency’s efforts to land a man on the Moon. Before that, he served as an undersecretary of state, including time advancing the development of psychological warfare as a cold war tool in the Truman administration.

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In both positions, critics say, Webb was complicit in the origins and legacy of government-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ policy, known in its early days as the Lavender Scare.

The new $10 billion space-based telescope bearing Webb’s name launched on Christmas Day last year. On Monday, NASA revealed the instrument’s first deep-space images with President Joe Biden at the White House.

LGBTQ scientists were conflicted.

“As one of the people who has been leading the push to change the name, today feels bittersweet,” tweeted Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, an assistant professor of physics at the University of New Hampshire. “I’m so excited for the new images and so angry at NASA HQ.”

Prescod-Weinstein is one of four researchers leading a renaming petition that started in early 2021. The group published an op-ed in Scientific American arguing Webb’s anti-LGBTQ complicity outweighed the former administrator’s contributions to science and astronomy.

“Webb was in leadership as the Lavender Scare unfolded,” the group wrote in March 2021. “Additional archival evidence, easily found by Columbia University astronomer Adrian Lucy, underlines Webb’s role as a facilitator of homophobic policy discussions with members of the Senate.”

The group cites a set of memos to Webb that included “objectives and methods of operation of the Senate Committee established to look into the problem,” which Webb then shared with committee leadership. They say the records clearly show Webb planned and participated in meetings during which he handed over homophobic material.

“There is no record of him choosing to stand up for the humanity of those being persecuted.”

Webb’s critics also cite the case of Clifford Norton, a NASA budget analyst who was arrested in Washington’s Lafayette Square in October 1963, after being accused of making sexual advances toward another man. The agency fired Norton, deeming his behavior “immoral, indecent, and disgraceful conduct.”

In March, the journal Nature published 400 pages of internal NASA documents obtained through a freedom of information request, including a white paper that asserted, “NASA had decided that removal of homosexual employees would be its policy. They had a choice during Webb’s tenure as administrator to set or change that policy.”

In response to the naming controversy, NASA said it would investigate the claims and publish a report.

In September, the agency announced it would not change the telescope’s name.

“We have found no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name of the James Webb space telescope,” NASA’s current administrator and former senator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

No accompanying report was issued, further infuriating Webb’s critics.

“If he’s not responsible for the bad stuff that happened while he was in charge, why is he responsible for the good stuff?” Dr. Prescod-Weinstein said. “It seems there’s a bit of double-think happening here.”

“Our telescopes, if they are going to be named after people, should be named after people who inspire us to be our better selves,” Dr. Prescod-Weinstein added.

“The observatory will produce amazing science and gorgeous images, certainly the equal of anything Hubble has done,” tweeted Phil Plait, author of the Bad Astronomy newsletter. “But it’s named after someone irrevocably tied to bigotry and homophobia, and moreover NASA has botched the way they handled the situation.”

“It’s difficult to want to use an instrument when you know you’ll have to write about it using the name of someone who worked to negate your very existence.”