How LGBT History Month Began and Why It’s More Important than Ever

October marks the beginning of LGBT history month and in 2022 following Florida’s passage of its so called “Don’t Say Gay Bill” and its subsequent aftermath, it’s more important than ever to observe.

According to NPR: “The Miami-Dade County Public School Board voted Wednesday against making October LGBTQ History Month, reversing its decision to support the annual observance last year.”

Board members heard more than four hours of testimony from parents and community members in support of and against initiative H-11, which would recognize October as LGBTQ Month. The board voted 8 to 1 against the item, which was met with applause from audience members.

LGBTQ Month was founded in 1994 by Rodney Wilson, a Missouri high school teacher, who chose October to celebrate and teach gay and lesbian history because schools are in session and it encompasses Coming Out Day, celebrated on Oct. 11.

The month-long observance “provides role models, builds community and makes the civil rights statement about our extraordinary national and international contributions,” according to the LGBTQ History Month website.

LGBTQ History Month is distinct from June which is LGBTQ Pride month which marks the occasion of the Stonewall Uprising in New York City which is widely recognized as the beginning of gay and Lesbian civil rights movement.

Wilson began the conversation in his classroom when he told students the history and significance of the pink triangle which was worn by homosexual prisoners incarcerated in concentration camps under Nazi led Germany.

A documentary about Wilson’s pioneering efforts, Taboo Teaching: A Profile of Missouri Teacher Rodney Wilson (founder of LGBTQ History Month), was released in 2020.

You can watch it below.

In 1995, a resolution passed by the General Assembly of the National Education Association included LGBT History Month within a list of commemorative months. October was selected to coincide with National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), which was already established, and the anniversary of the first march on Washington for gay and lesbian rights in 1979.

The month now also includes Spirit Day on Oct. 20, on which people around the country wear purple in support of LGBT youth; Ally Week, a week in which allies against LGBT bullying are celebrated; and the anniversary of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard’s murder on Oct. 12, 1998, which led to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009.

Photo by Luis Cortés on Unsplash