LGBTQI+ and Women's History Education Act of 2023
This bill directs the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution (NMAH) to carry out activities to support LGBTQI+ (sexual and gender minority populations) history and women's history education programs.
Specifically, the NMAH must, among other things, carry out the following activities:
In addition to the activities described in this bill, the museum must develop and maintain on its website content designated for educators, students, and families to improve their awareness and understanding of LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4273 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4273
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of American History of
the Smithsonian Institution to support LGBTQI+ history and women's
history education programs, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 22, 2023
Ms. Balint (for herself, Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Bonamici, Ms.
Brown, Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Connolly, Ms.
Crockett, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr.
Khanna, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Meng, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Norton, Mr. Raskin, Ms.
Sanchez, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Stansbury, Mr.
Trone, Ms. Velazquez, and Ms. Wilson of Florida) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House
Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of American History of
the Smithsonian Institution to support LGBTQI+ history and women's
history education programs, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``LGBTQI+ and Women's History
Education Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) According to the New-York Historical Society Museum &
Library, only 13 percent of named historical figures in
textbooks across the United States are women.
(2) In 2017, the National Women's History Museum analyzed
elementary and secondary education standards in social studies
for all 50 States and the District of Columbia and found that:
(A) 53 percent of the mentions of women's history
were included within the context of domestic roles,
compared to 20 percent that were included within the
context of voting rights and suffrage, 9 percent in
women's rights movement of the 19th and mid-20th
centuries, 8 percent that were included within the
context of the civil rights movement, and 2 percent
that were included within the context of being in the
workforce.
(B) Named women do not reflect the diversity of
women and their contributions--only 8 percent of named
women are Hispanic and no named women are Asian
American.
(C) Disability rights, Native American rights,
LGBTQI+, and migrant labor movements are less
frequently included in standards and, when included,
are covered in less detail, providing fewer
opportunities to address women's contributions to these
movements.
(3) According to a Smithsonian analysis of the 2017
National Women's History Museum study, approximately 1 woman
was mentioned for every 3 men in elementary and secondary
education standards in social studies.
(4) According to the National Women's History Alliance,
only 3 States (Illinois, Florida, and Louisiana) have
legislated standards for inclusion of women's history in
elementary, middle, and high schools instruction.
(5) According to GLSEN, only 7 States (California,
Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, and
Oregon) have passed legislation in support of an LGBTQI+
inclusive curriculum.
(6) In March 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed
HB 1557 into law. Commonly known as the ``Don't Say Gay or
Trans'' legislation, this law prevents teachers from
administering instruction on sexual orientation and gender
identity in kindergarten through third grade and, in 2023 the
Florida legislature expanded this prohibition on instruction to
8th grade (HB 1069), and the State Board of Education further
expanded this prohibition through 12th grade, with the
exception of health education.
(7) According to the Movement Advancement Project, between
2021 and May 2023, 9 States passed curriculum censorship laws
that restrict instruction on LGBTQI+ people and issues
(Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
Montana, and Tennessee).
(8) According to the African American Policy Forum, at
least 16 States have passed racial and gender equity curriculum
prohibitions.
(9) According to the ACLU, there have been over 200 anti-
LGBTQI+ school and education bills introduced in 2023 in State
legislatures around the country, as of May 2023.
(10) According to GLSEN, 4 States (Louisiana, Mississippi,
Oklahoma, and Texas) still have ``no promo homo'' laws in place
that prohibit positive and affirming representations of LGBTQI+
identities in schools.
(11) According to the CDC's 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey
of high school students, girls are more likely to be bullied at
school and electronically than boys.
(12) LGBTQI+ youth experience high rates of mistreatment in
schools:
(A) According to the CDC's 2021 Youth Risk Behavior
Survey of high school students, lesbian, gay and
bisexual students are nearly twice as likely to be
bullied at school and are more than twice as likely to
be bullied electronically than their non-LGB peers.
(B) According to CDC's 2017 Youth Risk Behavior
Survey, high school students who identify as
transgender are more likely to be bullied at school and
electronically than cisgender girls and more than twice
as likely to be bullied at school and electronically
than cisgender boys.
(C) According to GLSEN's 2021 National School
Climate Survey, among LGBTQI+ secondary students who
attended school in-person during the 2020-2021 school
year, over 76 percent reported being verbally harassed,
over 31 percent reported being physically harassed, and
over 12 percent reported being physically assaulted
because of their sexual orientation, gender identity,
or gender expression with transgender students
reporting the highest rates of in-person victimization.
(D) According to a 2021 Trevor Project report, 45
percent of intersex students reported experiencing
gender-based harassment or discrimination from teachers
or faculty.
(13) Nationally, only 16.3 percent of respondents to
GLSEN's 2021 National School Climate Survey said they had been
taught any positive representations of LGBTQI+ people, history,
or events in their classes, which represents a 3-point decline
from the 2019 survey.
(14) According to the CDC's 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey
of high school students, women and girls, LGBQ+ students, and
students of color were least likely to feel connected at
school.
(15) Countless studies show that when youth feel seen and
affirmed in their curricula, they experience improved academic
engagement and achievement.
(A) In participatory research the National Women's
Law Center conducted in partnership with Latina girls
in 2019, the girls reported that when they feel
represented in their curricula, they feel a powerful
sense of belonging and an emphasized identity of
resilience.
(B) GLSEN's 2021 National School Climate Survey
indicates that, compared to students in schools without
an LGBTQI+-inclusive curriculum, LGBTQI+ students in
schools with an LGBTQI+-inclusive curriculum were less
likely to hear homophobic slurs or negative remarks
about transgender people often or frequently; feel
unsafe because of their sexuality or gender identity;
or miss school because they felt unsafe or
uncomfortable.
(16) Women and LGBTQI+ people--including those of color and
those with disabilities--have been and continue to be powerful
agents of change in United States history. For example:
(A) Black and Brown transgender women, including
Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Sylvia
Rivera, and Storme DeLarverie were prominent leaders
and participants of the 1969 protests against unjust
police raids of the New York City gay bar, the
Stonewall Inn, that ignited the national movement for
LGBTQI+ justice.
(B) Dr. Margaret Chung, a queer Chinese American
woman, advocated for Chinese Americans' and women's
right to vote at a time when women, particularly women
of color, were denied that right.
(C) Judith Ellen ``Judy'' Heumann is an
internationally recognized disability rights advocate
who played a leading role in the development and
implementation of major legislation, including the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans
with Disabilities Act, and the Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities.
(D) Alice Wong is a queer disabled activist and the
founder and director of the Disability Visibility
Project who served on the National Council on
Disability.
(E) Ruby Bridges, a Black civil rights activist,
pioneered the school desegregation movement and was
among the first Black students to integrate schools in
the South at the age of six. Ruby's story, particularly
as it was memorialized in her children's book, Ruby
Bridges Goes to School: My True Story, continues to
inspire girls across the country but was also one of
the histories specifically targeted for censorship in
States prohibiting honest teachings about race.
(17) Discrimination on the basis of sex (including sexual
orientation and gender identity) compounds with discrimination
on the basis of other identities, such as race, national
identity, religious background, or disability. Within
marginalized groups, compounding layers of discrimination
across intersectional identities often results in the most
marginalized members of a group being silenced or left out of
historical narratives.
(18) All women, LGBTQI+ people, and those living at the
intersection of those identities, deserve to be represented in
classrooms across the country in an accurate, unbiased,
intersectional, and inclusive manner.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) ESEA terms.--The terms ``elementary school'', ``local
educational agency'', ``secondary school'', ``Secretary'', and
``State'' have the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
7801).
(2) Inclusive educational approach.--The term ``inclusive
educational approach'' means a teaching approach that
acknowledges, includes, and affirms experiences of people who
are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (``BIPOC''), people
with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, women and girls, and all
marginalized communities.
(3) Intersectional educational approach.--The term
``intersectional educational approach'' means a teaching
approach that acknowledges, includes, and affirms the unique
and compounded forms of discrimination experienced by those who
live at the intersection of two or more oppressed identities.
(4) LGBTQI+.--The term ``LGBTQI+'' means sexual and gender
minority populations, including individuals who are lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, and
intersex.
(5) LGBTQI+ history education.--The term ``LGBTQI+ history
education'' means culturally relevant (to the extent
practicable), unbiased, non-discriminatory, and accurate
education about the roles and contributions of LGBTQI+
individuals in order to promote representation and visibility
and combat prejudice, inclusive of multiple identities within
LGBTQI+ populations, including transgender, nonbinary, gender
non-conforming, Two-Spirit, and intersex individuals, which
have historically been marginalized within the larger LGBTQI+
population.
(6) Women's history education.--The term ``women's history
education'' means culturally relevant (to the extent
practicable), unbiased, non-discriminatory, and accurate
education about the roles and contributions of women, with a
specific focus on non-domestic roles, in order to promote
representation and visibility and combat prejudice.
(7) Culturally relevant.--The term ``culturally relevant''
means, with respect to education, education that is--
(A) available in multiple languages;
(B) consistent with census data and demographics of
the area in which the education will be provided; and
(C) addresses culture, community, accomplishments,
and history, including an accurate account of
historical barriers faced by the community.
(8) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of
the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian
Institution.
SEC. 4. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.
(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and
for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.
(b) Use of Funds.--The Director, in accordance with any program of
the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution
established before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act,
shall use funds appropriated under subsection (a) to carry out the
following activities:
(1) The development and national dissemination of accurate,
relevant, and accessible national resources for classrooms to
administer LGBTQI+ and women's history education in an
inclusive and intersectional approach, which shall include
digital resources and may include other types of resources,
such as print resources and traveling exhibitions.
(2) The development, national dissemination, and
implementation of principles of sound pedagogy for
administering LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
(3) The provision of professional development services to
administer LGBTQI+ and women's history education, such as
through--
(A) local, regional, and national workshops to
provide technical assistance;
(B) teacher trainings or engagement in conjunction
with LGBTQI+ and women's history education centers and
other appropriate partners;
(C) engagement with--
(i) local educational agencies;
(ii) State education agencies;
(iii) schools that are independent of any
local educational agency; and
(iv) school-based extracurricular meetings
or organizations; and
(D) development, operation, and expansion of a
teacher fellowship program to cultivate and support
leaders in LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
(4) Engagement with State and local education leaders to
encourage the adoption of resources supported under this Act
into curricula across diverse disciplines.
(5) Through an intersectional and inclusive approach,
convening experts, providing opportunities for discourse, and
engaging with the public through programming, educational
resources, and social media with respect to LGBTQI+ and women's
history education.
(6) Through an intersectional and inclusive approach,
increasing resource capacity, technical support, and content
creation to engage various audiences in person and via online
platforms with respect to LGBTQI+ and women's history
education.
(7) Creating, expanding, and disseminating scholarly work
through research, curricula, in-house and traveling
exhibitions, publications, and programming with respect to
LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
(8) Providing language translation of the work of the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History,
including scholarly work, research, traveling exhibitions,
publications, programming, pamphlets, and other information
distributed about activities funded under this Act with respect
to LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
(9) Expanding the collection acquisition and collection
access processes, including staffing, conservation, processing,
and digitization with respect to LGBTQI+ and women's history
education.
(10) Creating, developing, implementing, replicating, or
taking to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-
initiated innovations for museum improvement with respect to
LGBTQI+ and women's history education, and evaluating
rigorously such innovations.
(c) Online LGBTQI+ and Women's History Education Resources.--
(1) Website.--In addition to the activities described under
subsection (b), the Director shall use the funds appropriated
under subsection (a) to develop and maintain on the website of
the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American
History content designated for educators, students, and
families to improve their awareness and understanding of
LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
(2) Information distribution.--The Director shall use such
funds to distribute information about the activities funded
under this Act through the website of the Smithsonian
Institution's National Museum of American History, and shall
respond to inquiries for supplementary information concerning
such activities.
(3) Continuation of activities.--To the extent that the
Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History
is engaged in an activity described in subsection (b) or this
subsection on the date of the enactment of this Act, the
Director may use the funds appropriated under subsection (a) to
continue that activity.
SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT.
(a) Report Requirement.--Not later than February 1 of each year,
the Director shall submit to the Congress and make available to the
public a report describing how the funds made available under this Act
have been used--
(1) to create and promote educational activities; and
(2) to otherwise carry out this Act.
(b) Briefings.--Not later than 6 months after the date on which
funding is first distributed under this Act, and annually thereafter,
the Director or the Director's designee shall brief the Committee on
House Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee
on Rules and Administration of the Senate on the programs and
activities carried out under this Act.
(c) Sunset.--Subsections (a) and (b) shall cease to be effective on
September 30, 2028.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
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