--- title: "Anti-Trans Laws Force Engineer to Quit Job Helping NASA With Moon Missions" description: "Robin Witt, who helped build NASA's Artemis I rocket, was living her dream. She says that Florida's anti-trans laws cut that dream short." date: "2023-11-01" modified: "2023-11-01" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-engineer-quit-transgender" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "cape canaveral" - "NASA" - "the digest" - "trans rights" --- # Anti-Trans Laws Force Engineer to Quit Job Helping NASA With Moon Missions ![Robin Witt, who helped build NASA's Artemis I rocket, was living her dream. She says that Florida's anti-trans laws cut that dream short.]() *HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 11: Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator, speaks during event at NASA's Johnson Space Center Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, in Houston. NASA unveiled its initial analysis from the OSIRIS-Rex mission that collected rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images) \Image: Getty Images\* ## Heartbreaking NASA's Artemis missions, which seek to put humans back on the Moon for the first time in more than half a century, have been billed as a feat of diversity in a [historically hegemonic field](). But while the [crewed]() Artemis II and III missions will both see their fair share of [diversity firsts](), it seems that inclusivity efforts at the Artemis missions' home base, Florida's Cape Canaveral, aren't quite there yet. As [electrical engineer Robin Witt told *The Stranger*](), Florida's increasingly extreme anti-transgender laws left Witt, a transgender woman, no choice but to quit her job at a [NASA-contracted engineering firm called ERC]() — a heartwrenching decision that, according to Witt, cost her a lifelong dream. "That was my dream — that *is* my dream," Witt told the *Stranger* while recalling the launch of the [Artemis I rocket](), a spacecraft she helped build. "That was the greatest moment in my life... Nothing I've ever seen before — and probably ever will see again — will compare to that moment." ## No Place Like Home Anti-trans measures have grown increasingly severe in recent years under the guidance of current Florida Governor and [less-than-still-kicking]() presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, who has [made anti-LBGTQ+ efforts central]() to his platform. Under DeSantis' leadership, Florida has passed numerous pieces of anti-trans legislation, including 2022's [Parental Rights in Education Bill](), a revival of outdated "Don't Say Gay" policies. The state has also seen a [number of book bans]() that specifically [target queer texts](). Witt, who had lived in Florida since elementary school, as she told the *Stranger*, described the state's fast-moving and severe changes as "drastic." "Last year, I was talking about wanting to support the next launch and doing all that," Witt, who has since relocated to Chicago, told the *Stranger*. "And now, I can't leave fast enough." "It feels like I'm being chased out," she added later. "Everything that's happening, it makes me afraid for my life. It makes me afraid for my friends' lives. I feel grief, just an incalculable level of grief." Witt's account is troubling, and serves as a reminder that though NASA might be a federal body, the folks on the ground working for the agency and its contractors are still subject to the laws and attitudes of the states in which NASA conducts its business. And though NASA might be putting diversity at the public center of its Artemis missions, it seems that the less-visible folks behind the Artemis rockets and other missions — one of whom, in this case, was forced to choose between their human rights and their dream role — are getting left behind. **More on the Artemis I rocket:** [*Amazing Video Shows Artemis I Leaving Earth Behind*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()