Is the State the Place? Lessons from US K–12 History Education Policy and Practice

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, LGBTQ activists in California and Massachusetts attempted unsuccessfully to align state policy with inclusive K-12 history education. In the 2010s, starting in California, similar efforts found traction. What changed? How do affirmative state policies lead to transformations of educational materials, professional development, and classroom curriculum? And what does that history tell us about our current moment, when more states than ever advance LGBTQ-inclusive history-social science policies even as we are embroiled in the “Don’t Say Gay,” anti-trans, and “controversial topics” culture war? In this paper, I will share my experiences as one of the lead scholars working on passage and implementation of California’s FAIR Education Act (2011) as well as research from my forthcoming book, tentatively entitled Contested Curriculum: LGBTQ History Goes to School (Q+Public Series, Rutgers University Press). Ultimately, I argue, developing opt-in educational materials and teaching aids, even high-quality, diverse, and innovative ones, is not enough—we need the state to play a key role in building lasting and sustainable LGBTQ-inclusive K-12 history education.