{"id":849434,"date":"2021-10-05T15:29:09","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T19:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=849434"},"modified":"2021-10-05T15:29:12","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T19:29:12","slug":"leftists-wanted-nasa-to-rename-james-webb-telescope-over-lgbt-persecution-nasa-said-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leftists-wanted-nasa-to-rename-james-webb-telescope-over-lgbt-persecution-nasa-said-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Leftists Wanted NASA To Rename James Webb Telescope Over \u2018LGBT Persecution.\u2019 NASA Said No."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fleftists-wanted-nasa-to-rename-james-webb-telescope-over-lgbt-persecution-nasa-said-no%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=849434&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-620501008.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>NASA is set to unveil the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), ending a campaign from astronomers and other activists who claimed that James Webb, the telescope\u2019s namesake \u201cpersecuted\u201d LBGT individuals in his employ while he was NASA\u2019s administrator in the 1950s and 1960s \u2014 claims that NASA found were without merit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince May, more than 1,200 people, including scientists who are slated to use the telescope after its planned December launch, have signed a petition calling for the JWST to be renamed,\u201d Nature reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWebb held multiple leadership positions in the US government during a period in which gay and lesbian federal employees were systematically fired because of their sexual orientation,\u201d the group claimed, per the outlet. \u201cFor instance, he was NASA administrator when an agency employee was fired in 1963 on suspicion of being gay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NASA, which recently launched an ad campaign that was so tailored toward progressive sentiment that it was labeled \u201ccritical space theory,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/06\/18\/nasas-mission-equity-ripped-as-critical-space-theory\/\">the New York Post<\/a>, reportedly took the comments to heart and launched an internal investigation that, NASA says, found no evidence that would require the agency to change the JWST\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>NASA appeared to spare no expense on the investigation, either, and it reportedly included \u201cseveral archivists going through NASA\u2019s internal records, interviewing other historians who had studied Webb, and hiring an external historian to explore aspects such as Webb\u2019s career at other government agencies.\u201d They did not examine records that weren\u2019t digitized, but largely because libraries were restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQueer scientists,\u201d though, say they\u2019re disappointed NASA did not take them at their word and simply rename the telescope.<\/p>\n<p>The gut-punch is in the outright refusal to hear the voices of queer astronomers,\u201d one astrophysicist who spoke to Nature said. \u201cThis is a refusal to confront history. If we can\u2019t have that, how are we going to shed light on the oppression that people are facing?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor all the institution\u2019s talk of equity and diversity, they don\u2019t seem to be particularly concerned with public accountability about sensitive issues that have impacted a historically marginalized group,\u201d the petition\u2019s authors told the magazine.<\/p>\n<p>It does not appear that the petitioners, including the four leaders who initially accused Webb of wrongdoing, presented any evidence that Webb was intentionally discriminatory against LGBT individuals \u2014 only that, in the 1960s, most federal agencies weren\u2019t particularly welcome to gay and lesbian scientists and engineers.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, they offered some circumstantial evidence about NASA itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the heart of the controversy is what responsibility government officials bear for discriminatory actions and policies at agencies they headed,\u201d Nature reported. \u201cWebb ran NASA between 1961 and 1968, during the height of the exploration programs that eventually sent astronauts to walk on the Moon. Critics point out that Webb was therefore in charge in 1963, when Clifford Norton, a suspected gay employee, was fired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for whether Webb was at all responsible for firing Norton, a NASA investigator said that evidence connecting Webb to the matter \u2018just didn\u2019t turn up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The JWST is set to be unveiled later this year.<\/p>\n<p><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i>member<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA is set to unveil the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), ending a campaign from astronomers and other activists who claimed that James Webb, the telescope\u2019s namesake \u201cpersecuted\u201d LBGT individuals &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-849434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}