Redefining STEM
Photo credit: Ron/ Adobe Stock
The goal of Pride In STEM, according to the group’s website is “to break down any barriers between those who do STEM work and people who are interested in it, as well as highlight the positive and negative aspects of being an underrepresented group in STEM.”
“My ideal vision for the STEM field is a place where there is no harassment anymore,” Alfredo Carpineti said, “that discrimination is not even considered because it not only needs to be left at door, but it is a place where everyone can feel that they belong.”
Pride in STEM has 10 trustees representing a variety of backgrounds and identities. The organization does not have a formal membership and gauges interest based on social media followers and attendees at its events. Many of those attendees work in the biological sciences.
The founders of Pride in STEM acknowledge that cultural changes in some parts of the world have helped the LGBTQIA+ community, but they know this journey has just begun and ahead is a long road to real equality. They want LGBTQIA+ people in STEM to work and thrive without fear of discrimination.
“We love to tell the fairy tale that science is for everyone,” Alfredo Carpineti said. “But it is not true, and we need to make it for everyone just not by saying it but by taking steps to make it true.”
Alfredo Carpineti talked to ASBMB Today about questions and problems faced by the queer community in STEM. This interview has been edited.
This article was first published by ASBMB Today, the news magazine of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
