The Devastating Truth of Queer Erasure

Coming into the course, I had little to no knowledge of queer history. The only knowledge that I obtained beforehand was from personal interactions with individuals who identified with the LGBTQ+ community. As time has passed, the representation of LGBTQ+ individuals has slowly increased, which is another reason why my interest and curiosity in queer history has grown. I also know through media outlets that the LGBTQ+ community has faced many challenges as they have been attempting to become more acknowledged and seen as equal to society. This is an obstacle that is familiar to me since I am a part of a minority group in a world with lots of opinions. It has become normalized to overlook the importance and significance of most minority groups, which allows for division amongst individuals in society. This is an aspect that I will never understand. I do not see how another individual or group can treat another individual or group with such disrespect and inferiority like we all are not human, especially in the context of the queer community. 

Queer education has been almost non-existent in academic and public history. From my personal academic experience, I have never learned about a prominent LGBTQ+ figure. Although on the rare occasion queerness was discussed in school, it was for something unrelated to queer history. It seems that the individuals who have the power to distinguish between what is taught in school and what is not feel that the education related to the LGBTQ+ community is not important or significant enough to teach in the classroom. People who may be in these positions of power include individuals involved in local, regional, and global governments or contexts. The decisions that these people in power make have a direct effect on the LGBTQ+ community. Although the decisions made are not usually favorable toward the LGBTQ+ community, there has been a great step taken by the state officials in California to mandate that students be taught about queer historical figures in social studies classes. This progressive decision will allow LGBTQ+ individuals, who have fought so hard for representation, to finally move past the issue of queer erasure and get the representation within the collective history that they deserve.

My understanding of queer erasure expanded in a more comprehensive manner during my time in this course. After reading, A Queer History of the United States for Young People, I was able to better relate to each queer individual and understand the impact of certain events and policies I otherwise would overlook. There is one specific story that stood out to me about Jane Addams. Jane Addams, the mother of social work and founder of the infamous Hull House, is a major part of our history, but textbooks leave out the fact that she had long-term relationships with women. This habit of leaving out details can be attributed to people who want to change history for the purpose of benefiting themselves. Erasing queer identities from history is a negative practice that needs to stop because it will continue to perpetuate historical erasure until our history is no longer truthful or reliable. How are we supposed to learn from our ancestor’s mistakes if the history we learn is all fake?