The Royal Institute of Great Britain, often abbreviated to RI, is an organisation dedicated to science and education, which has been running for over 200 years. Recently RI attempted a little bit of science on social media, but may have forgotten to check for any nasty contaminants beforehand. As we saw RI post a tweet survey asking for anyone who identifies as a woman to tell them why they watch science videos, with a chance of winning £20. Sounds pretty sweet right?

Apparently not! See the phrase “anyone who identifies as a woman” really rubbed the anti trans activists the wrong way. So they proceeded to mob RI, bullying, harassing and sending all sorts of lies and disinformation about trans people their way. The overwhelming amount of hate they got for merely being trans inclusive has, unfortunately, caused them to back down and delete the tweet. Currently the RIs twitter says they are thinking about how best to move forwards now.

I don’t believe this needs much thought personally; don’t listen to the bigots, continue supporting trans people. Really seems like a no brainer to me, but alas, here we are. So I figured I would write a quick article where I explain the controversy, why it’s not particularly controversial. Finally I will also post 5 very good reasons why trans people must be included in science, regardless of what some bigoted Mumsnutter thinks. Of course… Its time for a numbered list

1) Sophie Wilson

She helped develop the BBC Micro and ARM processor architecture. Technology which is still used to this very day. If you own a phone or tablet? You own a little piece of Sophie Wilson’s work. As the ARM processor architecture is absolutely vital for all of your mobile devices.

2) Alan L Hart

Alan L Hart is the first trans man known to have had a hysterectomy in the US. He pioneered the use of x-ray photography in the diagnosis of tuberculosis and implemented screening programs which saved thousands of lives. This even despite one of his classmates outing him as trans to colleagues, forcing him and his family to have to move elsewhere.

3) Lynn Conway

I’m not even going to lie, I don’t understand the jargon of what she did, but I’m told it’s incredibly impressive all the same. She made massive contributions to multiple areas of computer science, including but not limited to working on improving the internet and computer micro chips. She’s also credited with 22 awards for her work.

4) Ben Barres

Ben passed away at the end of 2018, but before that he was known for his work in neurobiology and even the chair of Stanford University’s neurobiology department. He became the first openly transgender scientist in the national academy of sciences, in 2013.

He was a scientist pre transition under a different name which had a slightly funny, if also tragically sexist consequence. Ben gave a seminar to group, one of whom is quoted as having said: “Ben’s work is so much better than his sisters!”. Completely unaware that Ben and the sister were the same person, at different points in his transition.

5) every other trans person who wants to be a scientist

This is ultimately who you’re choosing to let down by succumbing to anti trans activism’s poisonous hate campaign. Every single trans and non binary person who ever considered getting into science had their confidence in that move shaken by how easily it was for you, one of the biggest science organisations in the UK, to back down. I urge you to reconsider your position, and to stop listening to bigots whose sole goal is to deny trans people our existence and human rights.