Requires LGBT awareness curriculum or instruction

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why the sponsor says this is needed

This bill instructs the State Education Commissioner to develop instruc- tional or curriculum materials on the historical treatment of LGBT indi- viduals for adoption by school districts. LGBT people have faced enormous odds and deep societal marginalization in recent decades, which has manifested in pervasive secrecy, shame, violence, and ultimately, activism. Despite our country's enormous progress toward reaching full LGBT equality today, institutional barri- ers and individual attitudes against LGBT rights persist. The history of the modern LGBT rights movement is closely tied to New York and particularly Greenwich Village, where the Stonewall riots occurred in 1969, Julius' Sip-In took place in 1966, and the group ACT- UP formed to fight AIDS in 1987. Instruction in LGBT history could cover these and other topics of national relevance such as Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign - the first organized opposition to the gay rights movement that developed in response to an LGBT anti-discrimination bill in Florida in the 1970s; or the Briggs Initiative - a failed California ballot initiative in 1978 that would have banned gays and lesbians and those who supported them from working in public schools. Students should be exposed to the historic treatment of LGBT people, because those who do not study and remember our past are doomed to repeat and forget it. This lesson is increasingly clear as we watch certain states and the federal government attempt to roll back hard-fought protections for LGBT people. Further, studies have shown that young people who learn about intolerance are less likely to engage in intolerant behaviors. This legislation will provide critical tools for teachers to cover this important piece of contemporary history. Illinois has passed similar legislation, and California includes LGBT history in its textbooks. New York should join them by providing instruction in LGBT history to its students.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.