Editor's Note: Ainissa G. Ramirez, Ph.D., is the director of the
award-winning science lecture series for children called Science
Saturdays at Yale, and hosts a video series, "Material Marvels.
"Technology Review named her one of the world’s 100 Top Young
Innovators for her contributions in transforming technology.
Follow her on @blkgrilphd. This piece was written in association
with The Op-Ed Project. By Ainissa G. Ramirez, Special to CNN
(CNN) - Sally Ride was a fantastic physicist and astronaut, and
later a science education reformer. I was surprised to learn of
her passing on Monday. I was even more surprised to learn that
she was a lesbian. She left us with one last gift — she came out
publicly. In just one line, the obituary issued by her company
shared her love with the world: “In addition to Tam
O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her
mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew,
Whitney; her staff of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many friends
and colleagues