To Administration:

As educators, it is our responsibility to create learning environments that provide accurate

information, through both modern and historical lenses, as well as affirming spaces for all
students. As society progresses forward in positive, equitable ways socially, scientifically, and
technologically, we must address the events of the past but also the progress that has been and
continues to be made. One such area that requires additional attention is the portrayal of Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Transgender figures and topics in school curriculum. Teaching the history of
discrimination, intolerance, and bigotry the LGBT community has faced is vital, but it cannot
stop there. We must also give significant attention to the positive and affirming contributions
they have made, providing our LGBT students with support and positive outlooks on their
identities.

Due to the FAIR Act in California (2012), the current curriculum for Social Science classes has
only recently started to include minority groups, but the way in which the information is taught
needs to be challenged and expanded. While covering LGBT events is a healthy first step
towards more equitable classrooms, merely focusing on the injustices and crimes against the
community can lead to depression or additional stress on our LGBT students. It is common for
individuals within minority communities to experience a unique “minority stress,” where the
“source of stress is the expectation for rejection that stems from past experiences with
discrimination and the vigilance this anticipation requires in daily life” (Kite & Bryant-Lees,
2016, p. 166). If our LGBT students only learn about the trauma their communities have faced,
we may implicitly transform our students’ identities from one of pride to one of a victim.

Research has shown that there remains room for growth with affirming our LGBT students and
creating allies out of the entire student body. When studying the impact of implementing LGBT-
inclusive curriculum in U.S. secondary schools, the 2015 GLSEN survey found that "being
taught about LGBT people, history, and event was not associated with more positive attitudes
towards LGBT people" (p. 38). In turn, we must take a new approach by creating a curriculum
for English Language Arts and Social Science classes that spends more time informing students
of the positive contributions of historical and current LGBT figures, instead of solely focusing on
the tragedies of the past. Such figures can include Bayard Rustin, the gay African American civil
rights leader who was integral in the March on Washington Movement.

It is also important to acknowledge the contributions of modern Transgender individuals, both

historically and in the writing world, as LGBT lessons in any discipline rarely include
Transgender representation. For example, in ELA curriculum, teachers could include
Transgender author Casey Plett, who earned the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender fiction
this year for her 2018 novel Little Fish. In it, readers follow a thirty-year-old Transgender
woman who discovers that her late grandfather may have also been Transgender but could not
live out his life openly. The story parallels the historical and modern experiences of a
Transgender individual, providing an informative and factual look back on the injustices of the
past but also a hopeful and affirming look toward the future.

Positive steps toward more inclusive classrooms and equitable curriculum have been made in
recent years, but along with this growth, we must continually monitor the positive and negative
effects they bring. We can lean into the positive ends by consistently affirming our LGBT
students through positive representation in the curriculum in our ELA and Social Science classes.
The unique and traumatic minority stress that LGBT students can experience is powerful, but
“research shows that when LGBTs feel strongly connected or involved with sexual minority
communities, the negative impact of minority stress is ameliorated” (Kite & Bryant-Lees, 2016,
p. 167). While we as educators all come from different backgrounds and communities, it is our
responsibility to understand the needs of all of our students and offer role models and affirmation
for them to cling to as they move forward in their education.

Sincerely,
Evan Slead & Charles Webster