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Lesbian & Gay History Month

The most recent addition to the "cultural-group month phenomenon". The month of October was chosen to celebrate gay and lesbian history as well as to commemorate the anniversaries of the first two gay and lesbian marches on Washington. The march held on October 1979 drew over 200,000, and the march held on October 1987 drew over 500,000 with the first public viewing of the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and other national organizations all endorse this historical month.

The governors of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Oregon, as well as the mayors of Boston and Chicago, declared October National Lesbian and Gay History Month in 1995. In July of 1995, the National Education Association passed an amendment supporting Gay and Lesbian History Month. Gay and Lesbian History Month serves not only as a time to study and celebrate gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered history, but also to focus the public's attention to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered issues, such as discrimination, marriage rights, AIDS and domestic partner benefits.

FACTS ABOUT LGBT YOUTH 

  • Gay and lesbian teens are more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers, accounting for up to 30% of all completed suicides among teens.
  • 50% of lesbian and gay youth report parental rejection because of their sexual orientation.
  • Up to half of the gay and bisexual males forced from their homes engage in prostitution as a means to support themselves.
  • The average age at which lesbians and gays acknowledge their same-sex orientation is between 14 and 16 years of age for males, and between 16 and 19 years of age for females.
  • The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that homosexuals are probably the most frequent victims of hate crimes in the United States.
  • 42% of homeless youth identify as gay or lesbian.
  • 19% of gay men and 25% of lesbians report suffering physical violence at the hands of a family members as a result of sexual orientation.
  • 97% of high school students report hearing homophobic comments made by school staff.
  • In 1992, the Hetrick-Martin Institute reports that 80% of gay and lesbian teens experience feelings of severe isolation: social isolation (having no one to talk to), emotional isolation (feeling distanced from family and peers because of their sexual identity), and cognitive isolation (lack of access to good information about sexual orientation and homosexuality).