Happy Pride Month!
The last two years have seen continued attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and efforts to erase or alter LGBTQ+ history and monuments. In the face of such attacks, we encourage you to continue teaching LGBTQ+ history in your classroom. Last Pride Month, Professor Wendy Rouse of San Jose State University wrote a great blog on how educators can highlight stories of LGBTQ+ resistance, rather than oppression. We encourage you to give it a read as you think about how to incorporate more LGBTQ+ stories into your curriculum next school year.
Additionally, we’ve compiled a list of all past CHSSP Resource spotlights on LGBTQ+ history below, along with a new edition of #KatesBookClub picks! Check it out ↓
CHSSP Resource Spotlights:
- Celebrating Pride: This 2025 Pride Month Resource Spotlight features a comprehensive list of past CHSSP blogs on LGBTQ+ history, as well as a list of additional resources for educators. For example, check out this lesson on LGBTQ+ Intersectional Resistance and Joy, created by CHSSP Teacher Leader Olive Garrison for the One Institute and UCLA History Geography Project’s 2024 Teacher Symposium.
- LGBTQ+ History: This Resource Spotlight from 2024 includes an extensive list of CHSSP inquiry sets and lesson plans on LGBTQ+ history, as well as picture book and historical scholarship recommendations. Take a look through our collection, LGBTQ+ History Through Primary Sources, created by Wendy Rouse, which features queer history lessons and primary sources that span the entirety of American history.
- June 2023 Monthly Highlights: This collection of resources, curated for Pride 2023, includes LGBTQ+ history book recommendations and picture book selections for #KatesBookClub.
- Teach FAIR: This Monthly Highlights blog from 2022 focuses on teaching the FAIR Act and highlights resources from across the CHSSP network. Included is a ninth-grade Ethnic Studies lesson on Political Activism in LGBTQ Communities.
#KatesBookClub Reads:
Marley’s Pride written by Joelle Retener, illustrated by DeAnn Wiley. Marley is a nonbinary kid with big anxieties. Crowds? Pass. Loud noises? No, thanks. When their Zaza is up for an award at Pride, they want to go to the parade for the first time with their beloved grandparent. But can Marley overcome their fears? Enjoy the experiences of a queer family of color finding community at the Pride celebration. Excellent backmatter about the history of Pride, a glossary of LGBTQ+ terms, and a list of resources. Would be nice to pair with What Are Your Words?
Masked Hero: How Wu Lien-Teh Invented the Mask That Ended an Epidemic written by Shan Woo Liu, illustrated by Lisa Wee. Describes the true story of how the author’s great-grandfather overcame intense discrimination to design the layered gauze mask, using materials that many people had in their homes, that ended the 1910 pneumonic plague. Lien-Teh’s heroism kept a plague in China from ballooning into a worldwide crisis. More than one hundred years later, masks became part of everyday life during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the book's primary focus is on science, history, and breaking racial barriers in medicine, it has a strong LGBTQ connection through its illustrator, Lisa Wee.
Two Grooms on a Cake written by Rob Sanders, illustrated by Robbie Cathro. Long before marriage equality was law in the United States, two grooms stood on a wedding cake with their feet firmly planted in fluffy white frosting. That cake belonged to Jack Baker and Michael McConnell, who were wed on September 3, 1971, becoming the first same-sex couple in America to be legally married. Their struggle to obtain a marriage license in Minnesota and their subsequent appeals to the Minnesota Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States is an under-told story of LGBT history. A celebration of love and cake! NPR interview with Jack and Michael provides an update of their union.
What Are Your Words? A Book About Pronouns written by Katherine Locke, illustrated by Andy Passchier. A colorful and easy-to-understand book about gender inclusive pronouns. This story shows that you can have many different words to describe yourself and those words can change depending on the day. A terrific book to introduce children to pronouns, and also perfect for adults struggling to understand how they/them pronouns work. While written for preschool/early elementary-aged children, it works for any age. Don’t miss the illustrations and the descriptors for each of the characters.