Are You Ready to Teach LGBTQ+ Culture and History at Your School?

Enhanced Social Skills, Affirmed Identity, and Reductions in Bullying and Suicidal Ideations

The GLSEN National School Climate Surveys have repeatedly shown that schools demonstrating a commitment to their LGBTQ+ students have fewer attendance problems, higher standardized test scores, and lessened rates of bullying and suicide attempts. Those are pretty impressive outcomes for something as simple as showing support and respect.

We know that ‘pride’ in oneself comes from knowing who you are, which in turn is based in part on knowing ‘who your people are.’ For the LGBTQ+ community, this has been problematic (until now). Most of us continue to grow and develop in the shadow cast by centuries of religious dogma and social stigmatization. Gay people had been targeted as ‘security risks,’ excluded from military service, banned from teaching, and labeled by clinical psychologists as broken in need of fixing. Very little had been known about the heroes of the LGBTQ+ community because they had to either live ‘under the radar’ in the closet, or they were known to be queer. That aspect of their identity was not considered appropriate information in their biographical records. With RAINBOW QUEST!, these movers and shakers can be identified and serve as role models, allowing for a sense of authentic pride to affirm members of this vibrant community.>