Histories or Queer Communities and Resistance, by Mollie Baland

History/Social Studies was my favorite subject in middle school and high school. I remember learning about various communities that have faced violence and oppression throughout history and I remember these situations best these are the moments when history brought us to live better as humans as a whole. Therefore, I think it is important to teach kids about communities who had to turn to resistance and activism to fight against their oppression. I think it is important for high school kids to learn about just how much oppressed communities fought for some basic human rights. I also think it is important for high school aged kids to learn about communities that they may be a part of or want to be a part of. When I was in high school I didn’t learn anything about queer history but now that I have, I think it would be beneficial for it to be in a high school history class’ curriculum. I think that if queer history was in a high school history class’ curriculum that students would begin to understand the full extent of oppression that certain communities face and the importance of fighting this injustice.

            I didn’t learn about the Homophile Movement, the Stonewall Riots, or ACT UP until I was in college. I think if I were still in high school when I learned about these events and groups I would’ve understood just how important the fight for queer justice was. When I was in high school I had no idea that homosexuality was considered “sexual deviance” in the DSM and gay people would be denied from the military in WWII. I did not know what the Stonewall Riots were or what they signified for the LGBTQA community. And I didn’t know what the AIDS epidemic was or how badly our government responded to it. If I were given the opportunity to be exposed to this history then I would be able to understand and respect the LGBTQA community better. In an article by the U.S. News and World Report called “Don’t Overlook LGBTQ History in High School,” it says “it's important for students to understand the extreme discrimination, struggles and successes of LGBTQ Americans in past decades.” (https://www.usnews.com/high-schools/blogs/high-school-notes/articles/2017-10-16/dont-overlook-lgbtq-history-in-high-school) If the average student knows what the LGBTQA community has had to overcome, they would be able to respect the community better. It would give more dimensions to history lessons that I was taught, history that involves queer history in its story allows for students to be aware of the diverse society that we live in and give them the opportunity to be more accepting of this diversity. An article by WGM-TV says, “we think all students are better off when we teach them the full breadth of history, it makes them more likely to understand that a diverse cast has contributed to our society.”

If the average student can come to understand the oppression that the LGBTQA community has overcome they might be more likely to also begin to understand just how important it is for the fight for queer justice to continue. Faderman says in the Plague, “they knew that all the progress that had been made in the 1970s could be reversed and history could easily repeat itself. So they fought with all their might against that happening, and they won.” (440) This quote means that queer history is important because history repeats itself. If conversation about queer struggles seizes to exist, then maybe we could go back to a time when if gay people were dying then most of the public wouldn’t want to eliminate the disease that is killing the people but blame their sexual orientation instead. If the average high school student was taught about queer history then most of the public would understand just how important the fight for queer justice is. An article from the Huffpost says, “On a larger scale, implementing LGBT history into public school education is crucial to building a more tolerant, unified and less violent America. LGBT people still face violence and prejudice on a daily basis, largely because a fear of queer people can come from not understanding or appreciating difference. Wouldn’t it be great if the burden for education were on actual educators, not just queer people, as so often is the case?” (https://m-huffpost-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5788f8dde4b03fc3ee507f8b/amp?amp_js_v=0.1&usqp=mq331AQGCAEoATgA#origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&prerenderSize=1&visibilityState=visible&paddingTop=54&p2r=0&horizontalScrolling=0&csi=1&aoh=15382747230539&viewerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Famp%2Fs%2Fm.huffpost.com%2Fus%2Fentry%2Fus_5788f8dde4b03fc3ee507f8b%2Famp&history=1&storage=1&cid=1&cap=swipe%2CnavigateTo%2Ccid%2Cfragment%2CreplaceUrl)  This quote not only brings awareness to the fact that teaching queer history in high schools will not only bring awareness about the community to a larger group of people, but it will also bring awareness about violence that exists and has existed to students and give them initiative to fight that injustice. In conclusion, bringing queer history to high schools may result in a more understanding and unified society in the future.