Why the Education System is Failing the LGBTQ+ Community

Queer erasure is the removal of queer individuals or organizations, intentionally or unintentionally, from public record and downplaying the community’s existence. The reason this is still such an issue is because the “winning team” always decides what side of history to tell. This has caused a lack of representation for the queer community. Growing up, I had very little exposure to the LGBTQ+ community and that seems to be the case for a lot of people. This lack of exposure was not just coming from home but also from my school, church, friends, and so on. This lack of education on the matter can cause a lot of people to be unaccepting or unwilling to understand the community. With erasure and lack of representation still a major issue throughout the country, change needs to happen fast.

In the education system, representation almost does not exist for those in the community– to the point that I can confidently say it was never discussed in my elementary, middle, or high school classes. This brings me to a point of little to no knowledge about the LGBTQ+ community before taking this course. I do have a family that is open about differing opinions, so I began to educate myself with my LGBTQ+ family members, which helped me form my ideas and opinions and further educate myself correctly on the issues that the community has faced and is still facing.

Coming into college, I was fortunate to experience classes that dove deeper into the matters and allowed me to learn so much more. I began to learn the history of this community with classes such as Media in Society; Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Sociology; and LGBTQ+ and the Media. Walking into Queer Virginia after taking these courses helped me feel more confident in my knowledge about the LGBTQ+ community, but I also knew there was so much more to learn and educate myself on.

Though I am lucky to have had the opportunity to learn more in college, most of my knowledge came from the classes I took and the professors I had. I have many peers at Longwood that have not had the same experience and have not even had one class that touches on LGBTQ+ history. We see this issue throughout grade schools and in most colleges. Why should people have to go out of their way to learn the history of the queer community and why are so many people not being educated until they leave for college?

This specific course has already taught me so much through class discussions, readings, and videos. I have learned more about the queer community in three weeks than I ever did in grade school. The subject of queer erasure was something I had never even heard of and quite honestly never even considered. To know that so many influential people that I have learned about were LGBTQ+ in some way and the school system never even touches on that is disappointing.

This course has taught me that if we were taught in school about the queer community then there is a good chance that more people would be accepting and understanding. With proper education, the basic human rights for the LGBTQ+ community might have evolved quicker. It is disappointing to know that we still have such a long way to go until queer history is taught without hesitation in schools appropriately and accurately.