LGBTQIA+ History and Why It Matters

About This Lesson

While many students have heard about some events in LGBTQIA+ history (such as the Stonewall Riots or the activism, political career, and assassination of Harvey Milk in San Francisco), many significant people and events in the history of the LGBTQIA+ rights movement are often underrepresented in textbooks and K-12 curricula. In this lesson, students will learn about LGBTQIA+ history spanning from the Roman Empire to the year 2016 by participating in a human timeline activity. The activity uses resources created by GLSEN, a national organization dedicated to ensuring that all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQIA+) students have access to a safe and affirming school environment where they can learn and grow.

By examining the broader sweep of LGBTQIA+ history, this lesson helps students put people and events into more meaningful context. This lesson also gives students the opportunity to consider whose experiences are included in the history taught in schools, whose are often left out, and how that may reflect and perpetuate the “in” groups and “out” groups in our society. Over the course of this lesson, students will practice important skills such as summarizing, inferencing, and presenting material orally as they learn about LGBTQIA+ history and reflect on how that history is represented in their textbooks and curricula.

Essential Question

• How can the way that history is taught and remembered create or reinforce “in” groups and “out” groups in a society?

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Reflect on the Stories Included in History and Literature Classes

• Tell students that in this lesson they will be learning about LGBTQIA+ history but first, they will reflect in their journals on whose stories are represented in their social studies and literature classes, whose stories are oftentimes left out, and how that exclusion might impact the identities and experiences of individuals in those groups.
• Ask students to create a pie chart in their journals that represents, in their experience, the groups of people whose stories are represented in their history and literature books and classes, and the percentage of time devoted to each group. You can let students define the groups themselves, or you might name some specific groups (such as African Americans, Latin Americans, LGBTQIA+, and white Americans in an American history course) to get them started.
• Underneath their pie charts, ask students to respond to the following questions in their journals:
  • What conclusions about your social studies and literature curriculum can you make based on your pie chart?
  • What questions does your pie chart raise for you?

Activity 2: Create a Human Timeline of LGBTQIA+ History    

• Before teaching this activity, print and cut apart the GLSEN LGBTQIA+ History Cards. Because there are probably more cards than students in your class, decide which ones you will use. We recommend choosing cards that have enough historical context (e.g. those that include the name of a president, civil rights leader, or well-known historical event) to help your students guess when their event falls on the timeline. Also include some cards that span the entire timeline, which starts in 130 A.D. and ends in 2016. If you plan on using the activity in multiple classes, consider copying the cards on cardstock or laminating them so you only have to make one set. You might also choose to hang four to six signs along the length of your classroom with dates between 130 A.D. to 2016 to help students space out their human timeline.
• Tell students that they will be making a Human Timeline of significant events in LGBTQIA+ history. After distributing one GLSEN LGBTQIA+ history card to each student, ask them to respond to the following prompts in their journals before you begin the human timeline:
  • Summarize your event in your own words.
  • What do you already know about your event? (Skip to the next question if this event is entirely new to you.)
  • What do you want to know about your event that is not included on your card?
• Invite students to stand up one at a time and place themselves where they think they fall on the timeline. They should share their summaries as they do so. They might also volunteer to share an idea or question that arose in their journal reflections. You might ask students to infer any connections to the events that precede or follow their place on the timeline. As more students join the timeline, invite those who have already presented to move to a different spot if they think their initial guess was incorrect. Continue this process until all of the students are standing along the timeline.
• At this point, you might project the GLSEN LGBTQIA+ History Timeline handout to help identify the proper placement of events on the timeline and move any students who are in the incorrect spot.

Activity 3: Analyze the LGBTQIA+ History Timeline  

• Ask students to return to their seats and distribute the GLSEN LGBTQIA+ History Timeline handout to the class. Students might read through the timeline on their own or with a partner. To encourage active reading, ask the students to annotate for the following information:
  • Place a check in the margin by any events that you know something about.
  • Place stars by three events that you think are especially significant in LGBTQIA+ history.
  • Write 1–2 questions in the margin alongside events you would like to learn more about or that contain vocabulary or content that you do not understand.
• You might first have students Think, Pair, Share their annotations with a partner. Challenge the students by asking them to explain to their partner what they know about events they checked on the timeline handout.
• In a class discussion, ask students to share what they know and the events they starred. You might record a list of these events on the board and have students explain why they selected them as important. Students can also pose their questions, which could be answered in class or for a homework.

Activity 4: Reflect on the Value of Including LGBTQIA+ Voices in the Study of History  

• These next questions could spark a class discussion, reflective journal response, or Exit Ticket response:
  • What is the value in learning about LGBTQIA+ history, and the histories of groups that received a small slice of pie on your pie chart from the first activity?
  • What difference would it make if LGBTQIA+ history, and the histories of groups that received a small slice of pie, were woven into the curriculum and given proportional weight in textbooks and literature classes?
  • How can the way that history is taught and remembered create or reinforce “in” groups and “out” groups in a school? in a community? in larger society?
• For homework, you might ask students to learn more about the event or person on their timeline card to share in the next class, or they could choose a person or event from the timeline that interests them to learn more about.