By Rebecca Campbell
History is something that affects every aspect of human life. Without it, humans would not know who we were, where we are, or potentially where we, as the human race are going. Although history has been predominately about white males, in recent times history has begun to incorporate the history of women, blacks, and those of other skin colors. There is still one part of humanity that is missing from the history books- the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual (LGBT) community. The LGBT community has been making history and headlines over the past fifty years, but the history of the community has yet to be added to any school text books. This session of Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature (O.I.L), there is a piece of legislation that will amend that issue.
Senator Preston Shatwell of the Rogers State University delegation and Representative Creed Littlefield of the Rogers State University delegation coauthored a bill entitled, “Don’t Forget to Pick Up Milk.” The title is a clever little play on words. As Representative Littlefield said, “The ‘pick up’ part means that the school system should pick up textbooks about the LGBT community, and the ‘Milk’ obviously refers to Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a public office in Californai. But don’t let the title fool you; this bill is more important than just the title. As mentioned above, the bill is about ensuring that an ever-growing population has their place in the history books.
Oklahoma is in the middle of the Bible belt, and a bill such as this could be seen as pushing the LGBT or liberal agenda. However, the authors both stressed that it was their intent in writing the bill was not to push those agendas. It is simply to educate people about what they feel is a very important part of American history that is being missed. The bill even states that the schools are required to teach about important historical moments such as Harvey Milk, the Stonewall Riots, and of course the recently passed federal law stating that gay marriage is legal in the United States. It would not be for the teachers to preach either their religion or their own personal beliefs. However, with Oklahoma’s geographical location in the Bible belt, and a bill such as this, if passed, would be controversial. When asked how the authors would respond to such criticism or backlash, Senator Shatwell only had this to say: “honestly, I don’t respond positively to that.”
During an interview, the two authors want to make it clear that the main goal of this bill is to educate people about the LGBT community. Representative Littlefield said that “this bill is not saying that being gay isn’t okay or not okay, but what has happened today.” The two authors are vehemently adamant that the bill is not to promote propaganda of the LGBT community. It is meant to bring further awareness to the community that has been put down for so long. Perhaps one of the most prolific quotes throughout the whole interview is when Senator Shatwell says,
“They are not wanting to represent what has happened. There has been wrong done to an entire group of people- horrible things have happened. And we have come so far since then and we just want people to know where people are coming from. We are not promoting propaganda.”
Both authors, as mentioned before, have stressed about the amount of education that the bill will provide. They are not asking for an entire book to be written about this history, just a simple chapter in the history book about the history of the LGBT community. Also, the authors are not asking for the chapter of the book to be added immediately. The bill provides for the allowance of a seven year time period in order for the books to be printed and the schools to have the funding to buy the books. After all, if a school were to keep a textbook for more than seven years, then it would be full of information that was out-of-date. Plus, the authors have also recommended within the bill that the schools, if they are unable to afford the textbooks, to either use a website that could be pulled up on a Smartboard in the classroom. In addition, the schools have option to print off the chapter from a website in order for the students to read it along with the lecture that the teacher is providing if they are unable to buy the books. While some may wish to debate the content of the bill, they certainly cannot argue with the fact that authors included the information that the population would need to know.
This bill is controversial, but that does not mean that it could not be helpful. Being able to understand someone’s history is a right that everyone should have. Religion, politics or beliefs should not impact the history of a group of people. Senator Shatwell stated it best when he said, “We’re just promoting knowledge. And knowledge on anything is always going to be better-enlightenment in general. We want people to be represented. We want people to know what has happened so we can continue to grow.” This bill will continue to allow Oklahoma to grow in the sense that the citizens of Oklahoma will be able to know where they have been in order to help Oklahoma to know where she is going.
Update:
The House of Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature recently passed this bill and shall go onto the Senate for final passage.