LGBT role models not present

When I was beginning to understand my non-heterosexual
orientation, I went to my school’s library to find out more
about myself and about people similar to me. Nothing existed
““ only silence and invisibility.

There was nothing that told me I wasn’t the only one, no
reflection of who I was becoming, and no validation through stories
of my heroes; no role models.

It took nearly 30 years before I found my lesbian and gay
foreparents in works such as “The Celluloid Closet:
Homosexuality in the Movies,” a book by Vito Russo that
examines depictions of gay people in cinema since the 1920s, and
“Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian
Past,” which more broadly investigates same-sex relationships
and attitudes towards homosexuality in different world cultures. I
finally found my role models and heroes in these works.

SB 1437 ““ a bill that would require California public
schools to include the history of gay, lesbian and transgender
individuals and their contributions to society ““ does not
glorify homosexuality or demand that instructors teach children how
to become gay, nor does it encourages children to try
homosexuality.

The inclusion of this history through SB 1437 is about ending
oppression. It’s about inclusion. It’s about visibility
of heroes and role models so that young people won’t live in
the closet for 20 years before coming out ““ like I did.

Passing a bill such as this would identify people in history
such as Bayard Rustin, an openly gay civil rights leader who helped
organize the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, and Alan
Turing, a gay man who is considered the father of modern computer
science.

If this bill is enacted, students would be taught about the
lives, achievements and contributions of gay and bisexual men such
as Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde, and the lives, achievements and
contributions of lesbians and bisexual women such as Amy Lowell and
Ma Rainey.

American history has always taught that anyone who does anything
good, right or heroic is heterosexual, and that is simply not the
truth. Just ask the family of Mark Bingham, a public relations
executive who died during the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and was
believed to have been among those who rushed the cockpit of United
Flight 93.

SB 1437 brings truth, visibility and understanding to our
students. As Senator Kuehl said, “Students deserve an
education that gives them a full and accurate picture of our
history and society, rather than one skewed by negative images and
stereotypes.”

I just don’t see how that can be a bad thing.

Sanlo is the director of the UCLA LGBT Center.