Future generations of LGBT people?

Question

Do you worry that future generations of LGBT people will just take for granted all that has happened for their cause in the years before? I think it's important that they should at least be given the knowledge of the struggle for equality. But who is going to teach them? Should it be on the school curriculum? I am just worried that future generations will become complacent, just as the generation I am part of is beginning too.

My point, Mr Jello, is that we should know about the struggles of gay people through time. Hell when I was at school I learnt about Egyptian slaves that lived and died over 2000 years ago. So if the abolition of slavery is part of the school curriculum then so should the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Answer 1

This is an excellent point. Young gay men today seem to feel that this is just the way it has always been. I think it's very important for gay people to realize not only where we came from and how much progress we have made, but the people who sacrificed for that progress.

I think the best way we can do that is to mentor our young people, and tell them the stories. There have been some excellent books written, but they aren't taught in schools.

I will never forget the conversation I had, as a young gay man, with a man who was in New York during the Stonewall Riots, and hearing him and his friends tell what it was like during that time.

I also try to show people the video "Before Stonewall", which is an excellent documentary of colorful, first-hand oral histories of people who were on the forefront of the gay human rights movement. There are many moving stories, but the one that always stops me in my tracks is the interview with General Eisenhower's director of the WACS. WOW!!

I always end the movie galvanized, proud, and grateful.

Answer 2

Good morning, my Dearest. Each group wonders about the history that's come before them and few really *do* realise what struggles were taken before them. If it's not properly taught to them, it'll be lost. Look what's happening in American schools now as just an example. Teachers are leaving out what we would have considered key peices of information and skimming over entire areas. I ask myself : will they do that to us or will they not?
We *should* be on the school curriculum but it'll only be there if we win our battle for civil rights. The victors write the history books and the losers get left in the footnotes to be ignored. It's an unfortunate but sadly true part of history that hasn't changed.
They won't become complaicent. They just won't remember us if we're not remembered at all.
Blessings, my Darling.

Answer 3

I am 79 and worked in the gay rights movement in the 70s. I find many young people today take the rights we won for them for granted. I have no problem with that. that is what we fought for. Young gay folks can go to bed together in their own homes without worrying about the cops busting in and arresting them, WONDERFUL!

I do hope that eventually our struggle will be entered into the history books. It would be nice for interested people to be able to find the information. Let's face it, few even know about the history of America. I doubt many gay people in the future will care, or ever realize there was a gay struggle for equality.

Answer 4

I think it will be like anything else. I mean, there is enough documentation out there of what it was like in prior generations and there will be ample information available about current events. If its taught in school or not, people will only get out of it proportionately with the effort they put into it. i think complacency would come if rote questions and answers were supplied to kids, for example the whole Christopher Columbus story. There is so much more behind it that is never taught and almost forgotten. large numbers of jews amongst the crew for example. All kinds of little details get left out in teaching, no matter what the topic when history is involved and thats just sad. Too much revisionist history is in schools as it is.

Answer 5

Oh dearie, I think most younger generations take history and past accomplishments for granted, whether the people involved are LGBT or straight.

It is our duty to share our wisdom, struggles, and experience.

Answer 6

Humans have many battles in history. Everyone owes gratitude to various battles but how many know of all the individual Roman battles or of the Exodus of the Celts?

Whether all the detail is recalled or a summary is recalled, something will be remembered, but the pain and suffering will not be appreciated unless people go through it themselves in other battles.

Answer 7

Yes, it should be part of public education and cultural affairs. We are a people with a rich history that is being lost due to complacency and politics of religious zealots who keep sticking their noses into government dealings.

What we CAN do right now is to make sure resources are made available to GSA groups in public schools through GLSEN.org! http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/home/index.html

There are also several GLBT libraries and Archives around the US that are attempting to keep track of our heritage.

here are but a few:

Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, Chicago, Il
http://www.gerberhart.org/

The GLBT Library/Archives of Philadelphia
http://www.stevecap.com/libdraft/archives.htm

"Up the stairs Community Center" of Fort Wayne, IN
http://www.utscc.org/library.htm

The Quatrefoil Library of St. Paul, MN
http://www.quatrefoillibrary.org/index.php

the ONE library and GLBT Archives of Los Angeles, CA
http://www.onearchives.org/

Answer 8

I hope that LGBT people take it for granted... especially T people like myself, but anyone who is dicriminated against really... I wouldn't want future generations to have to be discriminated against, even if it meant they took for granted what this generation suffers from.

Answer 9

When freedom comes, that would be a good idea. Until then, it is important to educate people about the harm done to individuals, families, and communities by the ongoing hatred.

Answer 10

All landmark issues of freedom should be taught in schools.

We spend a month of every year on Slavery, a few weeks on the Salem witch trials, why not add another victory to the cause.

However, I am baffled now, how do we work around my belief that moral issues such as sexuality should not be taught in schools.

Awww shucks, I'm confused now.