During LGBTQ+ History Month we celebrate, affirm, and highlight the deep history and significant achievements of the LGBTQ+ community in our schools, our community, and our country.
In October, as we celebrate the LGBTQ+ community’s history month, I’m reminded of what called me to join Berkeley Unified–our bold mission to enable and inspire our diverse student body to make positive contributions to our world. Our diverse communities create the vibrant tapestry that is Berkeley Unified, with rich histories, traditions, languages, and experiences that are shared, enjoyed, honored, and uplifted.
In BUSD schools and classrooms this month, we celebrate the many contributions made in our district, city, and country by the LGBTQ+ community. We do this #BerkeleyTOGETHER, understanding that by offering culturally-relevant curricula and celebrating the diverse backgrounds of our students, families, and staff, we create opportunities to learn about each other and learn more about ourselves. Doing so not only helps us understand and appreciate one another but also is the seed for empathy and connection – both essential for fostering the safe, humanizing and inclusive spaces we want all of our classrooms to be.
Enikia Ford Morthel
Superintendent
LGBTQ+ History Month: October 2024
LGBTQ+ History Month began with a 1994 high school history lesson in which Missouri teacher Rodney Wilson came out to his class. Wilson, who became the first out gay teacher in Missouri, would go on to found “Gay History Month,” which would eventually become the October celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month we know today. National Coming Out Day, which celebrates and supports the coming out of LGBTQ+ people, is celebrated on October 11.
At the December 9, 2020 Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) School Board meeting, the Board of Education approved a Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Student Policy that fosters an educational environment from PreK through Adult Education that is safe, welcoming, and free from stigma and discrimination for all students, regardless of gender identity or expression. The Policy facilitates compliance with local, state and federal laws concerning bullying, harassment, privacy, and discrimination, and ensures that all BUSD students have the opportunity to express themselves and live authentically.
LGBTQ+ Reading Lists
Please take some time to review the District’s Pride Reading Lists and Transgender, Non-Binary & Gender Fluid Reading Lists. Updated in the spring of 2022, these grade-level reading lists focus on the richness of the LGBTQ+ experience.
LGBTQ+ Flags
“In the LGBTQ+ community, we signify our pride with flags. With many different identities in the community, there comes many different flags to know.”
-The Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
The HRC has collected many flags and a guide to learn about all of the different colors of the LGBTQ+ community’s rainbow. They acknowledge that this may not be all of the flags that represent the community, and indicate they will update the page with new flags as they become popular.
Lifting Up BUSD Staff LGBTQ+ Voices
In celebration of our LGBTQ+ community, this year BUSD has continued “Lifting Up LGBTQ+ Voices,” a campaign to share our staff LGBTQ+ narratives with our students and community by creating posters featuring the stories and experiences of LGBTQ+ staff. In October, these posters will be displayed at schools, work sites, on the BUSD website, in social media, and in district publications. Sharing these narratives with our students will allow them to deepen connections with LGBTQ+ adults in the district.
Please click on each name to see a full-sized poster.
LGBTQ+ Resources
