The Poseidon adventurer: diver Judith Rubin has been under the waves all over the world, and the water's fine. (Pride 2003).

"You can run into homophobia anywhere, but I really do think that attitude is in the minority," says scuba diver and videographer Judith Rubin. "I kinda laugh at them and make them feel foolish, then go on my merry way. If you let them intimidate you, you're dead."

Nobody will be intimidating Rubin any time soon. As the videographer for esteemed shark researcher Eugenie Clark, Ph.D., of the University of Maryland, College Park, Rubin has traveled all over the world diving--educating herself on a part of the planet most people never see. She's so enthusiastic, she can make a study on the swarming behavior of juvenile Pholidichthys leucotaenia sound fascinating. Involved in just such a study off the coral reefs of Papua New Guinea, Rubin is probably underwater right this minute.

"I'm old enough where I lived through the entire sexual revolution and the gay revolution," says Rubin, who's 61. "When I watch television now, it's astounding! Not perfect, but I don't bitch and complain about it, because when I remember how it used to be, we've come a long way in my lifetime."

Born in Los Angeles, Rubin originally hoped to become a veterinarian and did eventually work as a vet assistant. But when the 1960s called with sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, Rubin was off adventuring and doing her part to claim a place in the sexual revolution.

"I can remember when I was in my early 20s and they had the red light that would flash in gay bars in case the cops came," she says. "We couldn't be caught dancing with the same sex partner or you'd be arrested. Drag queens had to wear three articles of male clothing or they would get arrested. It's so completely different now."

Although she's out to everyone she knows, Rubin says she makes a point of presenting herself as "just me," not gay or straight. "I've never had a problem," she says. Since she's spent the last 14 years diving with a mixed group of researchers but has been on only two designated gay cruises, her words have the ring of experience.

"I've gotten into conversations with people about being gay," she continues, "but my experience with that is that most people just don't give a damn about it; they just don't care. If they like you and you're a neat person, then they just couldn't care less."

An independent investor by trade, Rubin discovered diving when she quit smoking and started snorkeling--an experience that was "nowhere near enough!" After earning her certification, she spent years doing more than 100 dives a year. A dive trip with marine biologists and divers Ron and Valerie Taylor led to an introduction to Clark, and "the rest is history," she laughs.

Rubin confesses her fantasy--that when she's a very old lady and she knows her time is up, she'll die on her last dive. "I know it's kind of melodramatic and theatrical to think of it that way," she admits. "But for me, that would just be the most magnificent way to go."

Hunter is a freelance journalist living in Los Angeles.