Danny Jackson
They/Them
I am queer and I am a biologist.//
I grew up in Colorado, and I now live in Arizona for graduate school. I’m an Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. candidate at Arizona State University, and I study speciation and how native bird species adapt to urbanization. I’ve worked to queer the animal behavior curriculum at ASU, and I made a zine on queer animal behaviors that will be shown at the Denver Art Museum at an event in June, 2022.
My queerness has shaped my life as a scientist. It taught me to question every assumption that we might have about the natural world, and it taught me to appreciate the incredible diversity of animal life on our planet. I grew up in a culture that undermined and invalidated queerness, but now I see myself reflected in mountain goats, black bears, sunfish, and white-throated sparrows. I can’t imagine a greater gift in life than being queer <3