Amna Nawaz: St. Louis teacher Rodney Wilson founded LGBTQ History Month 30 years ago and celebrates LGBTQ History Month in this country in October.
Wilson recently spoke to community correspondent Gabriel Hayes about coming out to students in 1994 and his hopes for a more understanding society.
Rodney Wilson, LGBTQ History Month Founder: Well, there was so much going on outside of my classroom.
For example, my textbook had nothing about LGBTQ people or LGBTQ history.
And at this point I was completely out, except for everyone outside of work, co-workers and students.
So, in class in March 1994, I briefly mentioned the Holocaust, and there was a pink triangle.
I said that could potentially be the case for me too.
As a homosexual, I could have fallen under that umbrella of persecution.
That’s how I came out to the students at Melville High School in South County St. Louis.
So I had some anxiety, but I also had an expectation that this was the right thing to do, that this was a good thing, that this would be beneficial to the students, the school, and myself. Showing up to work is no longer a place where you have to hide in the closet, pretend to be something you’re not, or at least comment on certain areas of your life.
Gabriel Hayes: Of course.
Rodney Wilson: Because I don’t want to give away any secrets.
So I found it overwhelmingly freeing.
Well, my thinking from the beginning was that this year was going to be an organic month, where we didn’t need a lot of top-down leadership.
For the first few years there was a National Coordination Committee, which created packets of information.
But what I always thought was that I wanted this month to exist, just like Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March.
It’s just in the atmosphere.
And in secondary schools, college campuses, universities, community facilities, people will remember, it’s almost October, there’s an opportunity in October, let’s do something.
So I had hope – I was expecting it to grow naturally on its own, and that’s what happened.
If you Google LGBTQ History Month 2024 today, you’ll see that many universities and community groups are doing a variety of activities.
Everyone is part of the historical story.
We are all in this story.
And now we are all together on this earth.
We are contemporaries.
And we need to do everything we can to make the world, our country, our communities and neighborhoods friendlier, warmer, more welcoming, and more understanding. There is.
It’s okay if you don’t understand something.
Let’s learn about it.
Don’t remain incomprehensible.
Go ahead until you understand.
That will be my message. That we are a human family and we are learning to love and understand each other and care for each other.
