I’ve been reading about Col. Anne McClain, one of the astronauts picked for the Artemis project, aiming for a return to the moon over the next few years. Like several family members of mine, she’s a decorated combat veteran. Like only a few of my acquaintances, she has thousands of hours in the cockpit, mostly flying helicopters before becoming an astronaut. Like my eldest son, she’s trained in aerospace engineering. Like me, she’s experienced divorce. Like some, she got unwanted and unwarranted publicity as a result of a relationship that ended badly.
That’s the point. Like me, like you.
An environment at best curious and at worst hostile became evident when her identity as part of the LGBTQIA+ community was made a public matter in a manner not of her choosing. Her identity, her pride, is her business and that of those she chooses to identify or share with.
Her Bronze Star speaks for itself. Her multiple space flights and work on the International Space Station speak for themselves. Being an astronaut, a female astronaut, and one of the few humans to ever spacewalk speaks for itself. And yes, having a messy episode in her personal life speaks for itself too. It says: “I am human, with an imperfect life, like many. I am an expert in my fields. I have done what few have accomplished. I have soared above the planet and literally touched the heavens. I am a gay woman. I am content with who I am and I will always reach for the sky.”
As our friends across Rockland and at the Rockland County Pride Center celebrate Pride this week, I could draw lessons from local exemplar of LGBTQIA+ rights and human rights, the late Bayard Rustin, to emulate. I could look to so many more community leaders and advocates to praise and highlight for their groundbreaking work and their resilience in the face of prejudice and challenge. I’m highlighting Col. McClain because any of us can dream of being in her uniform, her spacesuit, as she lifts off for another mission. We can imagine ourselves striving and achieving.
Can we imagine ourselves as targets of hate and violence? In the Jewish community, we don’t have to imagine. Can we see ourselves needing to advocate for rights that others already have, or to keep them? Can we give others the same consideration, respect, and understanding we expect of them, as citizens of this great country?
We’ve actually all got much in common, and we need to remember that, always.
If Col. McClain is chosen as one of the astronauts to return to the moon, no doubt she will be saluted in a ticker tape parade down Broadway. Close your eyes. Picture yourself in the back of a convertible waving up at the cheering crowds. Like me, like you.
Shabbat Shalom