Entrenching the Excluded: Aligning LGBTQ+ History with State Standards

Integrating LGBTQ+ historical content into history and social studies curriculum makes it more accurate and relevant to the world outside the classroom. LGBTQ+ themes and individuals are present in every time period; yet, the majority of middle and high school students rarely learn this history. This detracts from their education in ways of which they are not aware and stymies their ability to fully understand events in the present. Seven states currently have laws mandating the inclusion of LGBTQ+ history; these victories receive far less attention than calls to end “woke” education and “radical indoctrination.” This poster session, therefore, asserts that LGBTQ+-inclusive curriculum is significant, aligned with state and national standards, and essential to understanding US and world history. The session demonstrates that LGBTQ+ topics, individuals, and themes can be included in units and lessons that are entrenched parts of the curriculum, deepening students' understanding of LGBTQ+ individuals’ agency and the impact of national and international events on the LGBTQ+ population.

In an era when academic freedom is under attack and queer and transgender students are increasingly marginalized in schools and society, it is more important than ever to weave LGBTQ+ content into US and world history curricula. Though this history explicitly appears in few states’ K-12 social studies standards, those guidelines are filled with related content that serve as natural entry points for LGBTQ+ history. US history standards in states across the country include topics related to the American West, the Progressive Era, the Harlem Renaissance, World War II, the Red Scare, and civil rights; world history standards include ancient cultures, the Inquisition, the Renaissance, the African diaspora, British suffragists, World War II, and Latin American reform movements. All of these topics, which are crucial to students’ historical understanding, offer teachers opportunities to include LGBTQ+ history in ways that are organic and representative with the support of state-authored documents that direct curriculum development. Despite the fear stoked by a political climate that seeks to diminish LGBTQ+ identities, there continue to be opportunities for teachers and historians to uplift and value all of our students, and especially the most vulnerable.

This poster will visually demonstrate the ways in which lessons on the Red Scare of 1919-1920, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Holocaust included information on LGBTQ+ individuals and events related to the LGBTQ+ community as well as featuring a project in which students selected a topic in LGBTQ+ history and related it to an era in the US history curriculum. The poster will include charts and graphs indicating the need for this content in K-12 classrooms, lesson objectives and resources and the state standards to which they connect, and charts representing the teacher-reported impact on students. It will be organized in sections that indicate the significance of each of these factors on their own as well as the way that they interact and impact upon each other. The poster will also feature a QR code through which conference attendees can access the resources and additional information on each topic.