LGBTQ History Month

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Overview

LGBTQ History Month is an annual month-long celebration and commemoration of notable people and events in the history of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer community, including community leaders and activists. It is observed during the month of October in the United States and Canada, and during February in the United Kingdom.

Background

In 1994, an openly gay Missouri high school teacher named Rodney Wilson^[4] gathered teachers and community leaders in starting the tradition of Lesbian and Gay History Month in October due to Coming Out Day also occurring in October. During the next few years, Concerned Women for America posted newspaper ads warning parents about the celebration being celebrated at schools but before long the month-long commemoration was endorsed by GLAAD, HRC,^[5] The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Education Association.^[8]

Notable Developments

Starting in 2006, Equality Forum has become the main content provider and promoter for LGBT History Month. The organization recognizes a different "icon" each day on their website. On October 8th, 2012, CNN^[3] reported that the Broward County school district in Florida and the Los Angeles School district would recognize LGBTQ History month. On July 25th, 2019, Equality Forum posted a YouTube video outlining the 2019 icons (shown below).

Various individuals, organizations and company's seek post LGBTQ history facts to social media or their own website. Many twitter users implement the hashtag #LGBTQHistoryMonth. For example, GLSEN^[2] provides site visitors with a comprehensive timeline of LGBTQ History starting with 2450 BCE (shown below, left). On October 1st, Dictionary.com^[6] tweeted link to the history of gender-neutral pronouns which have existed since the late 18th Century (shown below, right).^[7]