NJ Public Schools to Teach LGBTQ History

Public schools in New Jersey will soon be required to teach gay and transgender history under a new bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last month. Starting in the fall of 2020, middle and high school students will also learn about the contributions of people with disabilities, making the Garden State only the second state in the country to require such a curriculum.

In 2011, California passed a law mandating LGBTQ history be taught in social studies. New Jersey's law goes even further, requiring examples in all school subjects.

Advocates of the bill cite a 2017 national study by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, which found that an inclusive curriculum leads to more tolerant schools.

"There's less name calling. There are more instances where other students stand up and intervene in anti-LGBTQ bullying," said Aaron Potenza, policy director of the advocacy group Garden State Equality.

The state Department of Education has agreed to set guidelines for the new curriculum. But implementation will be up to each school district, starting in the 2020-2021 school year.

The change couldn't come soon enough for parents like Jamie Bruesehoff.

"To understand that people that have contributed to out society in really important and powerful ways were also LGBTQ changes the narrative, and shows the full scope of history," she said. 

Her 12 year old daughter Rebekah is transgender and testified in support of the bill before the State Assembly's Education Committee last year.

"I love learning about the history of our country in school," she said. "[But] I never see myself in the history they are teaching."

Rebekah said the new curriculum could lead her classmates to be more accepting of others.

"Most of the kids probably don't even know what the word transgender means. Some even think it's a bad word," she said.

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz chairs the Education Committee and co-sponsored the bill. She said the law builds on the work already done to include women and people of color in school curricula, which she can relate to.

"As a Puerto Rican woman I could probably point to a K-12 system that never highlighted a Latino person in history or a moment in time that I could connect with," she said.

The bill is the latest from the Murphy administration dealing with LGBTQ rights. Earlier this month a law went into effect allowing transgender and non-binary residents to easily amend the gender marked in their birth certificates.