Being LGBT In The Field

The always funny and amazing Evopropinquitous has written an amazing post on what it’s like to be gay and working as an academic in the field. A must read for everyone.

http://evopropinquitous.tumblr.com/post/137452863477/on-being-a-queer-primatologist

My own negligible contribution comes from a field trip I’d taken when one of our colleagues was gay, which was illegal in this particular country. We were a large group and so he was never without a woman in the clubs etc to fend off any unwanted questions but he was befriended by a very brave, relatively openly gay local which made our trip leaders a little nervous. I’m not sure how I’d deal with that situation now if I was in their shoes.

In the animal fields we should be very sensitive to people saying they’re not comfortable in the field, no matter what the reason, and it’s not cowardice to refuse to go or to come home early.

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