Contested Curriculum

For all young people, LGBTQ-inclusive K-12 history education promotes civic engagement, appreciation for how past diversity shapes our present, and critical citizenship skills. For LGBTQ+ students, it enriches identity, community, safety, resilience, and success. Contested Curriculum explores the history of LGBTQ-inclusive K-12 history education in the US. What began in fits and starts in activism and educational materials across the late twentieth century led to the passage of California’s FAIR Education Act in 2011. Subsequent implementation in California and across the country has presented many challenges and opportunities. Historian Don Romesburg, the lead scholar working with LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations on the FAIR Education Act and related textbooks and teaching, tells the compelling story of the struggle to make history education more accurate and relevant. The insights of Contested Curriculum are all the more urgent in this era of anti-LGBTQ book bans, “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, and attempts to diminish the powerful role that inclusive and honest history education should play in our democratic nation.