Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Harvey Milk and Richard Isay.
These are the names of the activists that I, a recent graduate from public school, did not learn about while attending school in California. These five people are people which I believe should be discussed in our history textbooks. These five people are known as activists for the LGBT community.
According to PFLAG NYC, New York City is the most populated city in America, and its public school system consists of more than one million students. Almost 10 percent of the students within these schools have reported to be a part of the LGBT community. Will they have the opportunity to hear about these activists?
My purpose for this article is not just to discuss the heroic acts of these four individuals, but to bring attention to the lack of awareness my generation has about LGBT activists. Educating about the work of these individuals like any other activist could potentially end much of the misinterpretations in this country.
In school, we learn about the accomplishments of such great activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and Susan B. Anthony, but our school curriculum lacks any particular lessons on activists for the LGBT community. As time goes on, it is evident that other topics are becoming a popular debate within our younger generations, but we are going into these discussions basically with the lights turned off because of the lack of knowledge of most young people.
Unless a teenager is self-educated on these topics, this information is not imprinted in our mind like other popular leaders we have learned about all of our lives that are essential to know about. Our schools completely miss that chunk of history that people in the community fought for others to recognize. With the number of teenagers that are joining the community being so high, I believe they should at least be learning about their culture in school. We learn about the triumphs of African-Americans and women who fought to be seen as equal, but the stories of the LGBT community fighting for their place in this country get completely disregarded. Education is what builds our thought processes and helps strengthen our outlook on things.
The Human Rights Campaign states that four in 10 youth of the community are not accepted by the people they surround themselves with. Educating at an early age of the true disparity the community has faced can bring a sense of understanding to people who don't necessarily agree with the act of being in a relationship with someone of the same sex. Homosexuality goes against many people's religions, but I have seen first hand that parents are given the right to withdraw their children from certain lessons if it strongly goes against their beliefs. With that being said, there comes a point where certain topics become less controversial the more they are understood and talked about. Teaching students about the history of this fight and this community can build a better understanding toward the depths of being LGBT.
I believe educating teachers on the history of the LGBT community and expanding the content of our textbooks could cause people to start understanding and ending their negative assumptions. Educating our youth of the work of LGBT activists like any other activist can bring so much unity between allies, people in the community and those that don't understand.
Marsha P. Johnson: Leader of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (a group that focused on helping the homeless trans youth in New York City) and one of the first to fight for an end to mistreatment of homosexuals during the Stonewall Riots
Sylvia Rivera: Fighter and speaker of the community and worked alongside Johnson at S.T.A.R.
Harvey Milk: the first gay man to be appointed to office in California. Also, helped build a foundation for the large LGBT population in San Francisco.
Richard Isay: a known psychiatrist who made it a point to change the way those in his field of practice perceived homosexuality as a whole.
These short descriptions do not begin to explain all of the work these activists have done for a community that fights for their place in this world every day. The public school system should be educating our students on these activists and the path they have created in order for people to realize the truth of this community.
