People have asked me since I changed my major from nursing, “What made you switch majors?”. I always tell them that ever since I discovered how important sex education is to children to hear about, I had to be the one to tell it. The question I want to elaborate on for my second blog post is, should we teach about queer history, and why? I absolutely think we should start teaching queer history in high school, and even in relationship classes.
There are many reasons queer history should be included in our curriculum. I don’t believe it’s right that people, as educators, don’t teach minors how to have safe sex and healthy relationships. In Faderman’s book she states, “[Ronald] Reagen himself wouldn’t even utter the words AIDS until his good friend from Hollywood days, Rock Hudson, died of it in 1985”(pg 418). This helps prove that just because we don’t talk about AIDS doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. People still die even if it’s not talked about which is why if we have this conversation, people will understand that change will happen if people are educated with sex and relationships.
Part of the reason it needs to be taught is because of the heteronormative sex culture. Same sex couples get taught how to safely have sex with each other, but kids who are LGBTQIA+ aren’t sure how to have safe sex. Because homosexual sex is so stigmatized, they’re afraid to ask how, so they are unsafe and bad things end up happening. Queer kids are more likely to get STD’s and STI’s because of myths they’re taught or from things that were never spoken of. My gay friend was diagnosed with herpes because he was never taught that as a gay man he also has to wear a condom during sex. Now we may all see that as something that would be pretty self explanatory. But for someone who has never really ever had sex ed that pertains to their sexual orientation, there will be some questions. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, queer men are more likely than any group to be exposed to HIV. Also according to the CDC, “Risky behaviors, like having anal or vaginal sex without using a condom or taking medicines to prevent or treat HIV, and sharing needles or syringes play a big role in HIV transmission. Anal sex is the highest-risk sexual behavior. If you don’t have HIV, being a receptive partner (or bottom) for anal sex is the highest-risk sexual activity for getting HIV. If you do have HIV, being the insertive partner (or top) for anal sex is the highest-risk sexual activity for transmitting HIV.” People already stigmatize sex education because they believe that children don’t need to learn about it because they’re not having it. However, that’s why it’s best to teach them before they have sex, so they know how to be safe when they do have it. Queer kids are taught in sex ed that condoms prevent STDs and pregnancy. Well how are they to know that they can catch STDs in the same way even though they have sex differently? Some may counter this argument by stating that people don’t come out sometimes until they’re full grown adults. This is why it’s more important than ever to teach kids about safe sex for queer people as well as for straight people. As they get older, if they do come out, they will have this education to be safe while having sex.
Another reason we need to be teaching queer history in schools is to teach the kids who are queer, and know it, that they aren’t alone. As a classmate once said, history is told in the eyes of the majority. If LGBTQIA+ children know that there were people in history of the same community, they won’t see everything in this heteronormative lense we teach them to. This will teach them also to question norms they see in society, which can cause a revolution. On page 439 Faderman talks about how that once drugs started to become available in 1996, the deaths caused by AIDS were dropped by about 50%. This was caused by people becoming educated even when they didn’t want to be. Advocates were teaching people that AIDS was needing to be looked at even if it was “gay cancer” as people were putting it. This shows that people need to be educated in all areas, even if it doesn’t pertain to them. Even though not all of these advocates have AIDS, or were gay, they knew that having knowledge on this topic would be useful and good for them in the future. So not only does queer theory and queer history need to be in a relationships and sex ed class, it needs to be included in all areas of the high school curriculum to educate everyone, because who knows who could use it in the future.
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