GAY HISTORY MONTH FOUNDER
RODNEY WILSON
Rodney Wilson is a high school teacher who founded Gay History Month
Born in Missouri, Wilson grew up watching “Jerry Falwell’s Old Time Gospel Hour” on television. Until his 20s, he was a fundamentalist Christian.
When he developed an interest in history, he found his calling as a teacher.
He wrestled with his sexuality and read everything he could find about gay history.
He said, “LGBT history gave me self-confidence as a gay person, and strengthened my resolve to live, as best I could, an honest, open and integrated life.”
LGBT HISTORY
In 1994, as a teacher at Mehlville High School, in suburban St. Louis, MISSOURI, Wilson came out to his history class during a lesson about the Holocaust.
If he had lived in Germany during World War II, he explained, he likely would have been imprisoned and murdered by the Nazis for being gay.
When he came out, Wilson was a graduate student at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He became the first, openly gay, K-12 teacher in the state.
What began as a lesson, evolved into a much broader mission: to teach young people about gay history. This is our inspiration for Learning English with LGBT Heroes
Inspired by Women’s History Month and Black History Month, he worked with national organisations to develop a gay-friendly curriculum for educators.
October was selected because schools are in session, and it is the month in which the first national march for lesbian and gay rights occurred, and it's also when National Coming Out Day is celebrated.
The Greatest Act of Advocacy For LGBT Rights
"The greatest act of advocacy for LGBT Americans civil rights is the act of coming out.” - Rodney Wilson
In 1994 Wilson wrote the first article about Gay History published by the Missouri Historical Society.
The University of Missouri-St. Louis became the first college in the country to hold a Gay History Month event, and Wilson helped organise a gay film festival on campus to launch the festivities.
In 1995, Gay History Month received its first mainstream media coverage in Newsweek.
As Wilson and partners sought endorsements from educational groups, they faced backlash from conservatives who feared that teaching gay history would endanger youth.
Gay History Month continued into the late ’90s, but lost momentum when no organisation would take responsibility for its observance, and financial resources grew scarce.
In 2006, Equality Forum created LGBTHistoryMonth.com and its observance started again.
Wilson holds master’s degrees from University of Missouri-St. Louis and Harvard University’s extension school.
He founded GLSEN-St. Louis (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network), the first GLSEN chapter outside of Massachusetts.
He teaches history, government and comparative religion.
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Rodney Wilson is a high school teacher
credited with creating Gay History Month.
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