Inclusiveness Invigorates Innovation 

By Anthony Gartrelle

June is Pride Month, which honors the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan and recognizes the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ+) individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office flies the Pride Flag and promotes the Pride community’s contributions with programming offered annually. This is fitting, given that the Pride community has contributed improvements to the device you’re using to read this article, even if you took it all the way to outer space! These crucial improvements were decisive milestones leading to advancements for humanity into new frontiers.

Alan Turing was a mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, and philosopher, who is widely known as the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence. While leading humanity into the digital frontier, Turing was the architect instrumental in cracking the Enigma code, a cipher system to encrypt communications used by Nazi Germans during World War II. 

George Washington Carver, also known as the peanut man, was an American inventor, innovator, agriculturalist, and scientist, who developed hundreds of food products further distancing us from the American Frontier. While being skilled in multiple fields having invented a process of producing paints and stains, U.S. Patent No. 1,632,365, and a cosmetic, U.S. Patent No. 1,522,176, Carver was also groundbreaking for agriculture. 

Sally Ride was an American astronaut, physicist, researcher, professor, and most importantly the very first female in space, who piloted humanity to the stars, the final frontier. Ride helped develop the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS) also known as the “Canadarm” and the robot arm, and was the first female to operate the arm in space. Ride was an inspiration to those in all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) backgrounds and her contributions reach beyond the moon. 

As Pride Month continues, and the Pride Flag—with its own rich history that includes intentionally forgoing claims of copyright or trademark protections —waves overhead, remember the contributions to our collective knowledge that STEM (pun intended) from the LGBTQ+ community, from geniuses Turing, Carver, and Ride to those building on their innovations still today. 

Anthony M. Gartrelle is an associate at Fishman Stewart, PLLC and a proud supporter of Pride and inclusiveness. Anthony attended Kettering University for Electrical Engineering and Detroit Mercy Law while a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).