Even though LGBTQ youth are increasingly accepted in schools across America, many classrooms do shockingly little to teach young people just how hard activists have fought and continue to fight for the recognition that LGBTQ people are equals in todays society.
Because of this, young people in the LGBTQ community remain on the margins of American education, neither truly seen nor heard, and their hetero counterparts are left with dangerous misconceptions of LGBTQ lifestyles and history. This needs to change.
While many students have a rudimentary understanding of basic LGBTQ history, having perhaps studied the Stonewall Riots or the legalization of gay marriage in America in 2015, many significant people and events in the LGBTQ rights movement are swept under the rug in modern history textbooks. Parents, ask your children if you dare: when was the last time they learned about a gay or lesbian figure in American history?
Students should learn about people like Charley Parkhurt, a prominent figure in the Gold Rush who kept his transition a secret to avoid business slowing down, or Bayard Rustin, a gay man and contemporary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Doing so lets us analyze big picture questions of how LGBTQ rights have changed over time, helping students understand our countrys progress and how far we still have to go. Additionally, all children deserve to feel included in their education, to truly see themselves in their learning. Without such efforts, we continue to ignore minorities and rob young people of very real parts of the American story.
Sex education is another branch on the LGBTQ tree that is left out of many American classrooms. According to the Human Rights Campaigns Sexual Health Report, only four states (Colorado, Iowa, California and Washington, plus the District of Columbia) have laws requiring that sex education be inclusive of LGBTQ youth.
Furthermore, only 12 states require that sexual orientation be a topic for discusion in sex education classes at all. With a reported 57% of parents feeling only somewhat comfortable or not comfortable at all in giving the talk to their children, its crucial children receive sexual education concerning gender, sexual orientation and sexuality while enrolled in the school system. Place the blame where you like, but studies show that far too many students are not getting the information they need at home.
Yet all kids benefit from examining the differences between gender identity, gender expression, biological sex, and sexual orientation. And I hate to break it to you, parents, but kids are curious about this stuff. And if kids dont learn about it in school or at home, I know exactly where theyll turn: the Internet.
Im likely repeating what everyone already knows when I say that when it comes to sex, the internet is full of lies. Twisted gender stereotypes and absolutely unsafe gossip abounds online, and if the adults in our schools and homes dont assume responsibility, theres little online that will protect teenagers from pregnancy, unsafe sex and more.
TEACHING all young people to have healthy relationships and healthy lifestyles is key to creating a healthy future. In a world thats increasingly diverse and connected, learning to be tolerant of other lifestyles will be beneficial for all kids, whether the student is on the LGBTQ spectrum or not. We all deserve to have a strong grasp of what healthy relationships and sexuality look like.
Building the future is what education is all about, and cultivating a happy and healthy environment where students across the sexual spectrum are able to receive the proper education about all types of genders and sexualities will do more than bring a better understanding of one another. It will also help teach the tolerance our nation seems to be so desperately lacking.
