Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 06:54:25 -0800 From: jessea@uclink2.berkeley.edu (Jessea Greenman) Subject: Immediate Action Needed! "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." "1984" George Orwell's eerie insight should motivate you to contact several officials of the California Department of Education regarding the lack of queer-specific educational content in the current crop of history textbooks used by millions of k-12 school children throughout California and other states. WRITE NOW, as comments must be received by May 5, 1995. As we all know, silence=death. The lack of any specific mention, in these history books, of the many significant contributions to world history by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is killing our young people, who lack role models. Role models are essential to self-esteem. Information is essential to feeling validated and connected. Lack of fair and accurate information on queers in history leaves young LGBT people feeling terribly isolated and alone. This contributes to their phenomenally high suicide rate. Tell Charles Kloes, Chair of the History-Social Science Subject Matter Committee of the California Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission, that such omissions amount to censorship of full, fair, accurate and inclusive historical fact. Tell him that he and his colleagues on the Commission have an ethical responsibility, as educational policy makers, to correct such injustice. Remind Mr. Kloes that textbooks without specific identification of many of the most famous figures in world history (rattle off a few of your favorites) are actually bad history, and do an injustice to all students, who are entitled to the truth. Cc your letter to Dr. Diane L. Brooks, Administrator, History-Social Science and Visual and Performing Arts. Note that the history framework calls for avoidance of stereotyping and point out that stereotypes thrive in a vacuum of information. Young people would not think gays could not serve in the military if they learned in school that Alexander the Great and Richard the Lion-Hearted were gay, for example. Emphasize to both Dr. Brooks and Mr. Kloes that overwhelming research evidence exists to support the notion that silence kills and that the deliberate omission of any SPECIFIC mention of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people from all of California's officially sanctioned public school history texts is discriminatory and deadly. They have an affirmative obligation to correct such omission. Chair Kloes and Dr. Brooks can both be reached at California Department of Education POB 944272 Sacramento CA 94244-2720 Fax 916-327-6887 WRITE NOW, as comments must be received by May 5, 1995. *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CROSS POST WITH ATTRIBUTION Jessea Greenman Co-Founder, Project 21 ph/fax: 510-601-8883 586 62nd St. Oakland, CA 94609-1245