Wired magazine's website recently spilled some virtual ink on gays in space. It's out of this world.


The article in question – titled "Space, The Final Frontier For Homosexuality" – examines the queer relationship with gays and the cosmos above. Journo Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides correctly points out that no openly gay folk have been launched into space. Alright, that's true.

And Whitesides definitely offers a sound hypothesis: astronauts' "military heritage" and NASA home base Texas' sodomy laws reinforced heteronormative ideals. That makes sense, right? It's at this point that Whitesides article veers toward the extraterrestrial:

There have been some recent victories however for gay people who love space. Former 'N Sync singer and commercial astronaut hopeful Lance Bass came out on the cover of People magazine in 2006 and George Takei, the actor who played the beloved Lieutenant Sulu on Star Trek, came out of the closet in 2005.

Takei has become a major spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign and embarked on a nationwide speaking tour he called, "Equality Trek."

An actor's fictional character and a singer's self-indulgent adventure!? We're so proud…

Bullshit achievements aside, Whitesides' article definitely opened up a whole new world for us. Did you know that there is a National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals? We didn't. Now we do. And we're going to join. (The internet very is technical.)