"To be a queer teenager is to exist in a vacuum. We are cautioned of a darker time just a decade or..."
To be a queer teenager is to exist in a vacuum. We are cautioned of a darker time just a decade or so ago when, by the popular telling of it, openly queer Americans seemingly didn’t exist. We are so often reminded of how quickly the world changed, and how lucky we are to live in the present, that it often feels like we are a new phenomenon.
Of course this isn’t true; the freedoms that LGBTQ+ Americans enjoy today were made possible only because of queer activists who spent decades fashioning a disparate social identity into a vocal, proud community. But how many of us can name them?
When we don’t grow up learning this history, our only point of reference for what it means to be queer in the U.S. becomes the ever-complicated present. There is something deeply isolating in that. History is a mirror. Every person looks to the past to find those exceptional people who have altered their way of life, who validate both their distinct identities and their ability to change the world. Discovering your heroes, no matter who you are, is an act of hope.
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What We Lose When We Don’t Teach LGBTQ History In Schools
| Michael Waters for The Establishment
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