LBGT History ...

[bobbiemlv]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill making California the first state in the nation to add lessons about gays and lesbians to social studies classes in public schools.

[bobbiemlv]

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
CA Schools to Teach Gay History

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the first law in the United States requiring public schools to teach students about the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. The law also requires teachers to teach about the role of people with disabilities. "History should be honest," said Brown. The law takes effect in January, but state textbooks probably wont' be updated until 2015.
Read it at CNN

July 15, 2011 6:52 AM

[annie]

The report I heard (on that Evil Librul NPR) specifically mentioned the TG angle on this.

Despite the forward progress this gives us, I have mixed feelings about it. I believe that, for the most part, curricula should be set by educators and not by politicians. This particular legislation is pro-GLBT, but it works the other way too, such as in Texas, where the Religious Reich has dominated the process.

I think back upon my own school days, far too many years ago than I care to admit, and I do remember that kids did bring up the GLBT angle on some things, but instructors pretty much refused to go there. Two cases I remember distinctly were those of the sexual orientation of Revolutionary War tactician Baron Von Steuben, which the instructor brushed off as "rumor", and the transgender angle of novelist Willa Cather, whose one assigned reading was written from a cross-gender perspective. I remember that this particular instructor stated simply that it was not unknown for an author to write from the perspective of the alternate gender, and cited others, such as the true identity of Silas Marner's George Eliot.

I'm sure that in this day and age, classroom discussions are more open about things like this.

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Gabi
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On Vermont public radio today it said it included bisexual and
trangendered folks. Is this correct?

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(This posting was entered by Gabi, an external user of MyDLV.)

[annie]

> On Vermont public radio today it said it included bisexual and
> trangendered folks. Is this correct?

That is correct. The report I heard on NPR specifically mentioned TGs.

[External Poster]

This posting is from: kumiko yvonne watanabe
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hmm.. maybe the urban legend of J Edgar Hoover being a cross dresser or being
gay will finally be resolved --- or would it promote the legend even more? He
was a very prominent historical person with the FBI during the Kennedy years,
gangsters, McCarthy....

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(This posting was entered by kumiko yvonne watanabe, an external user of MyDLV.)

[bobbiemlv]

Not only was Hoover prominent in the 50's & 60's, but he was the first director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924 and the first director and founder of the FBI in 1935 and captured Al Capone, Machine-gun Kelly and the infamous John Dillinger. As far as I can tell, Hoover being gay is just conjecture. I'm not saying he is or isn't, but I don't think proof either way has been given.

[annie]

A teaser for today's NPR Tell Me More program states that they will be discussing what a lesson plan for such studies might include.

So, if you get that Evil Librul Public-Sector NPR, tune in.

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Gabi
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I am a Vermont public radio addict so I'll be listening

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(This posting was entered by Gabi, an external user of MyDLV.)