California Schools to Include LGBTQ History

A few weeks ago, Stephen Colbert did a segment on the Colbert Report about the governor of California’s decision to make gay history a mandatory part of the school curriculum. For those of you who know that Colbert adopts a right-wing conservative attitude as a part of his TV personality, his outrage over this new law was not surprising.

While his anger was obviously fake, he still expressed fears that many Americans hold. His comment that “bringing gay history into our classrooms teaches our children a dangerous lesson: that gay people exist” represents the intolerant belief that people who are gay should not even be acknowledged as part of our society. Too many people choose to ignore the presence of people who identify as LGBTQ in our society because they feel that being anything other than heterosexual is not natural.

Lessons in California schools highlighting the impact of gay men and women, like Oscar Wilde, Harvey Milk, Gertrude Stein and Jane Addams, will hopefully show students that the gay community has played and continues to play a vital role in shaping America. With this understanding, we can only hope that students will become more accepting and tolerant of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation.

And regardless of where you live in the country, you can always check out Sex, Etc.’s LGBTQ Famous Faces gallery to learn more about the contributions of LGBTQ people.

—Sam Dercon, 17, Staff Writer