This document provides an overview of a workshop presented by Rob Darrow on school libraries and LGBTQ youth. Some key points: - Darrow discusses his background and experience working with LGBTQ youth. He notes the lack of LGBTQ inclusion in many educational programs. - Around 10-20% of youth identify as LGBTQ, and many face bullying. New state frameworks and laws aim to promote inclusion of LGBTQ topics and history. - The workshop defines important terms like gender, sexual orientation, and transgender. It discusses concepts like gender fluidity and the gender binary. - Brief histories of activists like Frank Kameny and cases like David Schroer's help illustrate discrimination faced by the LGBT

1. Rob Darrow, Ed.D.
Director of Research Safe Schools Project
CSLA Conference. Feb 2019
Resources: www.RobDarrow.us
School Libraries, LGBTQ
History and the new History
Social Science Framework

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Workshop Resources
www.Robdarrow.us
 Presentations / CSLA - Librarians

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This is a Safe Space

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Who are you?
What is your identity?

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What formed your identity
and beliefs?

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Lens of Differences.
What Differentiates People?
 Age
 Gender
 Race
 Religion
 Economics
 Language
 Disability
 Culture
 Accent
 Values
 Family Status
 Role/Position/Job
 Status
 Appearance
 Education Level
 Body Size
 Personality
 Sexual Orientation
 Politics
 Learning Styles
 Family Background
 Other?

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My Journey /
My Identity
● Dad, Gay Man, Lifelong K-12 California educator
(Teacher, Principal, Librarian), Lifelong learner
● Director of Research and Professional Learning, Safe
Schools Santa Cruz; Our Family Coalition, San Francisco.
● LGBT History Consultant / Author, LGBT History
Curriculum Guides for 8th and 11th History
● Grant director: LGBTQ History, CSE, Safe Schools Index
● Adjunct instructor, CSU Fresno; CSU Monterey Bay
● Independent College and Career Counselor

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Library School and
Selection Story - 1998
 Most powerful
article.
 More challenging
moment

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My Lens Today
 School libraries and LGBTQ
Youth?
 Current California laws
 The new History Social
Science Framework and
LGBT History content

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Quick Question
 How are LGBTQ youth or literature
addressed in library credential college
preparation programs?

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Our
 Few educators have ever studied anything
about LGBTQ topics or history:
 Not in history or health textbooks
 Not in credential programs or library or
counseling or doctoral programs
 Not in teacher induction programs
 Not discussed in college history courses
 Not in health education courses.
 Few workshops on the topics

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Our
 Students “coming out” around age 12-14
 About 10% - 20% of young people identify as LGBTQ
 Many youth embrace “gender fluidity”
 64% of LGB students in California report being bullied in
the past year (2018, KidsData, Ca Healthy Kids Survey)
 63% of LGBT students in California report being harassed
because of their sexual orientation or gender expression
(2017, GLSEN)
 New History Framework includes LGBTQ history (2015)
 New Health Framework adds incusivity, gender and
sexuality lessons (2019)

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Defining Terms
 Race: common physical characteristics
 Ethnicity: common socially defined characteristics
(language, religion, or other cultural factors)
 Religion: personal set of attitudes, beliefs, and
practices
 Gender: (noun): state of being male, female or
intersex or some variation (NonBinary – NB).
 Sexual Orientation: (noun): one’s inherent
sexual, romantic, and/or spiritual attraction
towards others, either of a different, the same, or
multiple genders.

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Gender Fluid/Expansive

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Gender Binary
 a system of beliefs and categorization of two
complementary genders: male/female or
man/woman.
 The gender binary conflates sexual orientation
with gender, and assumes that sex/gender and
heterosexuality are always aligned
 For example: women are inherently feminine
and men are inherently masculine

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Other Terms to Know
 Cisgender: You identify with the sex you were assigned
at birth. Opposite of transgender.
 Transgender: You identify with a sex different than the
one assigned at birth - gender identities that do not
conform to typical expectations of binary genders or one’s
biological sex/ sex assigned at birth.
 NonBinary / Gender NonConforming: Somewhere on
the gender spectrum, but not male or female. Beyond the
gender binary.

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Other Info: LGBTQ Community
➢ Pronouns (he/him; she/her; they/them)
➢ Gay, Family, Friends of Dorothy (FOD)
➢ Lesbian, Dykes
➢ Queer
➢ NonBinary, Intersex
➢ Students “coming out”

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A little history:
LGBTQ Terms and Year First Used
 L = Lesbian (1732)
 G = Gay (1955)
 B = Bisexual (1960)
 T = Transgender (1990)
 Q = Queer / Questioning (1894, 1990)

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Why this matters:
A Few Stories

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Frank Kameny
 1925 – Born in NY
 1941 – Joined Army
 1956 – Harvard: Doctorate
in Astronomy
 1957 – Hired by U.S. Army
Map Service – Produced
maps for U.S. military

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Frank Kameny
 1953: President Eisenhower signs
Executive Order 10450.
 “Immoral and sexual perversion
were a security risk – sexual
deviants” (In place until 1975).
 1957: Kameny released from
government service
 1960: Files lawsuit. Supreme Court
denies claim. First civil rights claim
based on sexual orientation
 1960: Forms Mattachine Society in
Washington DC to advocate for
gay people.

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Frank
Kameny
 1965: First of many protests at the White House
 1973: Lobbies American Psychological
Association to remove gay/lesbian as a disease.
 2010: Present at the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t
Tell” signed by President Obama
 2011: Dies at age 86

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David Schroer
 1959: Born in Chicago
 1979: Joins the military
 Special Forces Commander
 Haiti Special Forces Commander
 Post 911 Coordinated Secret
Counterterrorism Unit in Pentagon
 Briefed VP Dick Cheney on secret
missions
 2004: Retires from Military
 2005: Applies for job with Library
of Congress. Job Offered.

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Diane Schroer
 Shares that she is transitioning to Diane
(Transgender male to female).
Library of Congress rescinds job offer.
 2005 – Files employment lawsuit – Title VII
(Schroer v. Billington – Library of Congress)
 2008 – U.S. District Court – Discrimination and
$500,000 awarded
 Works in Pentagon advising transgender affairs

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Ronin Shimizu
 2nd Grade: Joins Cub Scouts
 4th Grade: Became a cheerleader – Vista
Junior Eagles Cheer Team
 Enjoyed art and fashion – made his own
clothes
• 2002: Born in Folsom, Ca

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Ronin Shimizu
 2008: Began being bullied and taunted
with: “gay,” “girly” and “a fag,”
 2008-2012: Moved to different schools to
escape the bullying
 2012: Awoke every day worried about who
would pick on him.
 2014: Removed from school, placed on
Independent Study program

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Ronin Shimizu
 2014 (December):
Took his own life (Age 12)

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5 Variables that impact Safe and
Inclusive Schools…
Especially for LGBTQ Youth
 1. Administrative leaders
 policies and actions that create a culture of
acceptance and inclusiveness
 2. Teacher and Curriculum leaders
 LGBT history integrated into various courses,
school library books, inclusive sex education
Darrow, R. (2015). Implementation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender (LGBT) Inclusive Policies and Curriculum in California School
Districts and Recommendations for Creating Safe School Environments.

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5 Variables that impact Safe and
Affirming Schools…
Especially for LGBTQ Youth
 3. Student leaders
 Gay straight alliances, yearly supportive events
e.g. National Coming Out Day or Day of
Silence
 4. Health leaders
 HIV prevention / Sex Education
 5. Mental health leaders
 ongoing programs to promote wellness and
reduce bullying, sexual assault and suicide

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The Laws
 2016 – Suicide Prevention Policies in
Schools
 2015 – California Healthy Youth Act: Sex
Ed and HIV education must be inclusive.
 2013 – School Success and Opportunity
Act: Transgender youth
 2011 – Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and
Respectful (FAIR) Act. LGBT history in
curriculum.

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The Bottom Line
 We want all students to be
successful in school – to be engaged
and happy – and to be college and
career ready.
If school is safe and affirming for
LGBTQ students – it will be safe and
affirming for all students.
More cost effective when students
graduate from high school

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Books as Curriculum and
a Mirror / Window
 Think about how a
book is a mirror
(reflecting who you
are) and a window
(looking at others
experiences)
 Share your ideas

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When someone with the
authority of a teacher…
describes the world and you
are not in it, there is a moment
of psychic disequilibrium, as if
you looked into a mirror
and saw nothing.
- Adrienne Rich
- Poet, Essayist, Feminist

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A little history:
History Curriculum in Ca
 1998: New Ca History Standards – first state to
adopt such standards. New textbooks.
 2010: Common Core Adopted.
 2011: Fair Education Act Passed. Added Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Americans to the
curriculum – especially related to history.
 2016: New State History Framework
 2017: K-8 History Textbook Adoptions
(State Board vote in Nov. 2017)

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Content Inquiry
Literacy Citizenship
Framework Instructional Shifts (CLIC)

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Inquiry Based Teaching
Question
Evidence
Analysis
Interpretation
Reflection

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History Social Science Framework:
LGBT History Content
● 2nd: Variety of families represented
● 4th: Gender during the California Gold Rush / Charley Parkhurst
● 5th: Westward Movement and Gender; Two-Spirit Native American
Tradition;
● 8th: Constitution (14th Amendment); Gender in Westward Movement
(Charley Parkhurst); Slave Life and Families; Civil War.
● 11th: Women’s Rights (Romantic Friendships); Military (World War II,
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell); Harlem Renaissance (1920s); Lavender Scare
(1950s); Laws and Court Cases; AIDS; LGBT Rights as a Social
Rights Movement; People and Organizations.

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State History Framework –
11th Grade Themes
 Romantic Friendships Increase Women’s Rights
(1890-1930)
 Gays in the Military from the Civil War to Don’t
Ask Don’t Tell (1860-2010)
 Harlem Renaissance: As Gay as it was Black
(1917-1935)
 The Lavender Scare and the 1950s (1918-2011)
 Amendments, Laws and Court Decisions
Expand Equality (1868-2015)

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Various Social Movements
 Latinx (gender inclusive term)
 African American
 Asian
 Civil Rights
 Women
 Gay and Lesbian
 Transgender

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Intersectionality Lens
 Intersectionality is an important lens that
is used to better understand the lived
experiences of individuals across
identities, both those identities
that hold power in society, as well as
those that
experience marginalization in society
(Warner & Shields, 2013).

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Questions to Consider?
 Does it matter if a person in history was
male or female?
 Does it matter if a person in history was
white, African American or LatinX or
Asian?
 Does it matter if a person in history was
gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender?

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Questions to Consider
 Are these groups treated differently?
Marginalized vs. Non-Marginalized?
Are there different levels of privilege?
 African American gay male
 White straight female
 LatinX lesbian female
 Asian Transgender female
 White straight male
 Latinx bisexual male

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What is happening where you are?
What are you doing to support LGBTQ
students in your library or school?
How do you know you are being
successful?
What other resources are available?
I wonder: Is there a measure for libraries that
indicates their level of support for LGBTQ youth?

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You Can Be Proactive – 5 Ps
 Policies – Check your district policies about
supporting LGBTQ youth
 Put a rainbow flag or safe space symbol in your
office / library
 Power of presence. Visit a GSA in your school
and ask them to share books they like with you.
 Participate in national coming out day (October)
or day of silence (April) with a book display.
 Promote safe and inclusive schools every
day…in your words and in your actions

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What school libraries can do
 Collection Check (How many gender and sexuality and
LGBTQ related titles?)
 Identify future book purchases related to new History
Social Science Framework
 Power of presence. Attend and insert literature and
libraries into County Office / CLIC region lead history
social science presentations.
 LGBTQ Literature book display. October is LGBTQ
history month. Label authors as LGBTQ.
 Ask your history department: What are you doing about
history framework and teaching LGBTQ history?
 CSLA – Are there discussions about LGBTQ literature,
history and students at conferences, website and
newsletters?

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Support for You
 Website/Resources
 Curriculum Guides / Framework
Alignment Tools / Textbook Selection
Tools
 CLIC Region Lead History Roll Outs in
County Offices of Education

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Resources and Contact Info
 Robdarrow@Robdarrow.us
 Workshop Feedback
Rob’s Website: www.Robdarrow.us