By Malachi Willis

Sexual orientation and gender identity minorities are less represented than expected in scientific disciplines and have lower retention rates.[1] These disparities may be due to subtle biases at several points along the scientific pipeline. Evidencing this, more than two-thirds of faculty members who are out to their colleagues feel uncomfortable in their academic department—discomfort that is related to exclusion and harassment they report.[2] Dr. Jon Freeman, an SPSP member, suspects that having visible LGBT role models and peers may play a big role in allaying these disparities.

But being LGBT is a concealable identity in many cases; this invisibility can make it difficult to find role models and connect with peers. To counter the isolation and stigmatization that LGBT people experience in academic settings, Drs. Lisa Aspinwall and Lisa Diamond created GASP—the GLBT Alliance in Social and Personality Psychology. This organization is also a resource for researchers studying LGBT issues.

Since 2001, GASP has provided a sense of continuity and community to underrepresented students and faculty. Dr. Freeman’s experiences as a faculty mentor with GASP have greatly informed his efforts to promote the increased visibility of LGBT research and researchers within academia, which is one of the organization’s primary goals.

First, in a piece published in Nature, Dr. Freeman argues that including people who identify as LGBT in mainstream diversity initiatives would foster LGBT representation and also send an official signal to the scientific community that may help change the culture and ease career barriers LGBT people face.

Second, to allow researchers and policymakers to better understand and address potential LGBT-related disparities and disadvantages in science, Dr. Freeman wrote a letter to the National Science Foundation that was co-signed by over 200 scientists and 17 scientific organizations, including SPSP.­­ In this letter, he details the importance and utility of collecting LGBT data in official surveys of the scientific workforce.

Another goal of GASP is maintaining an academic climate that includes and supports LGBT students and faculty—as well as their heterosexual allies. As such, Dr. Aspinwall encourages all people, disregarding their sexual orientation, gender identity, or research interests, to become a member and to attend GASP events. Interested SPSP members can join the private noncommercial listerv or find more information via the GASP homepage. Dr. Aspinwall further urges interested SPSP members to invest in their home departments or programs by coordinating with their campus LGBT resource centers on matters such as implementing gender-neutral bathrooms, training faculty and staff with the Safe Zone curriculum, funding research with underrepresented populations, and identifying other ways to signal a safe and welcoming environment.

GASP has grown to more than 450 members worldwide; about 125 students and faculty attended the GASP membership luncheon at the 2019 SPSP meeting in Portland. Going forward, Dr. Aspinwall would like to capitalize on the collective knowledge of GASP members regarding practical issues that arise in research on stigmatized populations. Through their efforts, the organizers of GASP and Dr. Freeman are leading a renovation project that is adding hues to a hallway that has remained ivory for too long.


[1] Hughes, B. E. (2018). Coming out in STEM: Factors affecting retention of sexual minority STEM students. Science Advances, 4(3), 1–5. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao6373

[2] Patridge, E. V., Barthelemy, R. S., & Rankin, S. R. (2014). Factors impacting the academic climate for LGBQ STEM faculty. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 20(1), 1–27. doi:10.1080/00918369.2015.1078632