A Queer Future: Why Addressing the LGBTQ+ Community in School is Important

Before being enrolled in a class about queer history, I never realized how much of our history has been covered up or left out when it’s taught in school. Things such as slavery or women’s struggles were taught in a way that made it seem like the slaves were happy to work for their white landlords and leaders, but we know that is not how it really was. So, what else has been left out or made to seem like it's something it’s not? Queer history is one of those things. 

My Personal Experiences

Growing up and going to a small, rural high school, being a part of the LGBTQ+ community wasn’t really frowned upon, per se, but it wasn’t really accepted, either. LGBTQ+ issues were also never mentioned within our history classes or textbooks. I remember a couple of people I went to high school with that came out as being a part of the LGBTQ+ community who were picked on for the way they talked or acted. I also had a close transgender friend who transitioned in high school, but people often misgendered him and called him by his deadname. Even his family was doing this! Although people didn’t accept him for who he was right away, they eventually called him by his preferred name and pronouns. 

College, however, has been a different experience for me. Looking back over my college career, being queer was much more accepted, and I felt comfortable to be who I was as a bisexual woman. If I had gotten into a relationship with another girl back in high school, I would’ve been judged by both the friends I had in high school as well as some of my family members. In my college classes, I’ve been taught more about the LGBTQ+ community, and have even had the opportunity to take a class called Queer Virginia, which specifically examines the queer history in our state. 

My first exposure to the LGBTQ+ community was through family members who labeled themselves as lesbians, and shortly after I also began to experience attraction to the same sex. However, my first public exposure to the queer community was when same-sex marriage became legal. Besides that, I never received any education or exposure to the LGBTQ+ community, especially in high school. Quite honestly, I believe that the legalization of same-sex marriage was only announced because it was a change in the law. If it was anything else, I doubt that the public would know about it. 

Questioning Authority

Not being taught about the queer community has led me to question who gets to decide what we are told and taught. Powerful authority figures take control of what’s taught and what isn’t, leading to an unfair representation of our history because not everything is being brought to light. This includes not mentioning anything about those who had partners of the same sex or those who fought for rights within the LGBTQ+ community, which can be considered to be erasing important information or downplaying an individual’s life simply because of who they’re attracted to. Ultimately, this hurts those who identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community. Maybe this history is erased because those who teach don’t agree with teaching it, or because they don’t want to step on anyone’s toes when attempting to teach queer history, but one thing is for certain: our children are missing out on an important piece of history.

The Importance of Exposure to the LGBTQ+ Community in Education

Queer Virginia has been a course that I’ve been really interested in, and I wish to learn more and more with every class that I come to. Not having representation of my community within textbooks or classrooms growing up made me feel like other individuals didn’t think it was important enough for those kinds of things to be taught publicly. With California becoming the first state to incorporate LGBTQ+ history textbooks, I believe that our country may become one that’s more accepting as compared to previous generations. I think that exposure to the queer community should begin early in a child’s educational career, and should be gradually increased as they progress through their schooling. One example of the things that are being put into California’s textbooks include pictures of two moms, two dads, or single-parent households. Another textbook suggests that people in our history were a part of the LGBTQ+ community without directly saying so. This is because publishers don’t want to misgender or mislabel historical figures by using modern terminology, since these figures couldn’t use these terms or weren’t comfortable with coming out during their lives. I think this is a good approach because it gives us a little bit of representation within the public eye. However, it’s also not representing LGBTQ+ histories as much as they could be represented. 

Along with actually wanting to come to class to learn about the history of the LGBTQ+ community that I missed out on in high school, I am also captivated by my classmates speaking out about what queer history and erasure means to them. My fervent wish is that future generations will continue to fight for the rights and representation of those within the LGBTQ+ community as they learn more about our history.