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GLBTQ
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning


Exercise 3

Creating Safe Schools for Lesbian and Gay Students
Identifying Diverse Historical People...
by Youth Pride, Inc

It is important that young people learn of different historical people with diverse backgrounds. This exercise gives young people an opportunity to actively participate in an activity which involves writing down names of famous people. Gay and lesbian people can be naturally included as one diverse topic.
Place blank poster boards around the room with titles such as Jewish American, African-American, Gays and Lesbians, Native American, Hispanic an so on.
Provide a marker next to each poster board.
Have students walk around the room and write names of famous people under the particular subtopics.
When they are done, include a time to discuss the people on the posters.
Also look at the context of the responses to this exercise. For example, are there less people identified on one or two posters? What associations (positive or negative) do students have with the named people? How many students knew more about one category of people than another? What do the students think about homophobia or invisibility after having done this exercise?
If you are at a loss for famous gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, here are a few names to get you started:
Melissa Etheridge, K.D. Lang, Greg Louganis, Oscar Wilde, Audre Lorde, James Baldwin, Martina Navratilova, Pete Townshend, Michelangelo, Truman Capote, John Maynard Keynes, Barney Frank, Leonardo daVinci, Rita Mae Brown, Elton John, Ellen DeGeneres, Adrienne Rich, Tchaikovsky, RuPaul, Gore Vidal, Sandra Bernhard, George Gershwin, Tennessee Williams, Virginia Woolf, Frieda Kahlo, David Geffen