As part of LGBT History Month, Equality Forum is highlighting a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) icon each day of October.
Beginning with Leonard Bernstein, Equality Forum will chronicle 31 living or historical LGBT figures’ contributions to history through a video and biography.
Return to this page each day in October and click on the video below to see each day’s update. The video will update each morning. Visit www.glbthistorymonth.org for more information about the series or to read biographies of each icon.
Want to celebrate LGBT History Month in your school? Learn more and check out some activity ideas from GLSEN below the video.
ACTIVITY IDEAS:
Speak up - make the invisible visible
First and foremost, LGBT History Month is about making the invisible visible. LGBT people already exist in English, Social Studies, Science, Math and Art curricula. The problem is their invisibility. For example, many authors who regularly appear on reading lists of American and British Literature were/are LGBT people: James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Lorraine Hansberry, Alice Walker, Walt Whitman, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Countee Cullen, Hans Christian Andersen, Audre Lorde, Oscar Wilde and Henry David Thoreau are just a few.
Make the Visible Visual
Bulletin boards, display cases and murals are great ways to involve your school community in recognizing the contributions of LGBT people throughout history. You can design your visuals around themes ("Famous Lesbians," "LGBT People of Color," "LGBT Scientists," "LGBT Athletes") or time periods ("The Modern Gay Rights Movement," "Gay Medieval History").
Diversify the Library
Do a search of your school library, and find materials that include information about LGBT people in history. Talk to your librarian about adding more such resources. Organize a book drive and ask students, faculty and staff for donations. Let public libraries, university libraries and book publishers know, and they may just give you some of their overstock!
Invite Guest Speakers
Many local GLSEN chapters and community-based LGBT organizations have "speakers bureaus" whose members are trained to lead school-based workshops for teachers and students. Try to involve speakers of varying ages. Youth can be particularly effective in reaching students, and LGBT elders can bring a broader historical perspective.
Bring the Teachers Up to Speed
How much do your teachers, especially the history teachers, really know about LGBT history? Share your resources with them so that they will be able to teach effectively, and so that LGBT History can be integrated across your school’s curriculum.
Movie Night
Stage free after-school screenings of one of the films listed below. Or, screen the films in the evening, invite people from your local community, and charge a few bucks admission to raise money for your Gay-Straight Alliance or a local LGBT organization. Hold an informal discussion after each screening. Don't forget to make lots of popcorn!
Publicize Your Activities
Include information about LGBT History Month in your school newspaper, radio programming and announcements. Notify your local media outlets. They can cover your school's plans for LGBT History Month or interview participating students and teachers.
Go Beyond October!
October should not be the only time we discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. LGBT history is a part of, not apart from, your current curriculum. It just takes some research and planning to make it more visible. Think about ways to share LGBT material with your school community throughout the year. October should begin, rather than end, the discussion of LGBT history.
Additional Resources
Check out these great books and videos, and find more on the GLSEN BookLink at www.glsen.org or email booklink@glsen.org !
Books on LGBT History
Faderman, Lillian. To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America
Feinberg, Leslie. Transgender Warriors.
Marcus, Eric. Making Gay History: The Half-Century Struggle for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights
Miller, Neil. Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History 1867-Present.
Films on LGBT History
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (83 minutes) Traces the life of Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s key advisor and dedicated civil rights activist.
Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100 (60 Minutes) Explores a century of LGBT history by documenting the life and times of Ruth Ellis, who, before her death in 2000, was the oldest living African-American lesbian.
Out of The Past (70 Minutes) 1998 film tracing the emergence of gays and lesbians in American history; GLSEN publishes a companion teacher’s guide.
