For the month of October, Spectrum, the University’s LGBT student organization, wants to teach students about LGBT history, including the leaders, movements and protests that paved the way for LGBT individuals.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of LGBT History Month, which was founded by Rodney Wilson, a high school history teacher in Missouri. Wilson noticed the lack of LGBT history education in schools and created a month to bring awareness to the history of the community. 
Elaine Maccio, associate professor of social work, said it’s important to pay attention to groups whose histories would otherwise be invisible.  
“I think [with] other history months that we have, we do it because there’s been so little attention paid to that particular group,” Maccio said. 
Maccio said this month is necessary because it offers LGBT allies a chance to learn more about the LGBT community and identify with LGBT individuals. 
“Knowing the history is just another opportunity for people who aren’t familiar with this population to better understand who they are, where they’re coming from and where they need to go,” she said. 
Gabrielle Hahnebohm, psychology junior and vice president of Spectrum, said this month is important to her because of her lack of LGBT knowledge.
“Even I don’t know much about our history, and that, to me, is a glaring reason why it is important to have this month,” Hahnebohm said. 
Hahnebohm said this month offers her a chance to learn what to take pride in within the LGBT community.  
“Who am I suppose to be looking up to and be prideful of in our community if I don’t know who’s done things for our community or what they’ve done?” she said.
Hahnebohm said LGBT people often don’t want to acknowledge the lack of information on LGBT history, which can lead to problems within the community.
“People don’t want to admit they don’t know much about their community, which makes it hard for us to be empowered and together,” Hahnebohm said. 
She also said LGBT history should be discussed more in classrooms. 
“I’ve heard Harvey Milk’s name a thousand times, but never in a history class and never from a history teacher, only through gay clubs and events,” Hahnebohm said.
Hahnebohm said not teaching queer history can often encourage homophobia. 
“If you’re not even willing to talk about history involving queer people, how willing are you to talk about queer people at all?” Hahnebohm said. 
History professor Catherine Jacquet said LGBT history is largely denied or ignored. Jacquet said it’s critical for people to know more about LGBT history because of the amount of misinformation about the community. 
“A lot of history that we know is white male-dominated, but if we’re honest, we’re looking at so much,” Jacquet said. “It’s not even about gay as we understand it but also cross-dressing, cross gender and queer history in communities of color as well, which is something else that’s often not seen in the mainstream narrative.”
Hahnebohm said, in the future, the University should reach out to Spectrum to plan events related to LGBT month. 
“I would like to see them reach out to us instead of us having to reach out to them,” said Hahnebohm. 
Spectrum has several events planned for this month, including Queer Poetry Night and a National Coming Out Day Discussion. Currently, no University departments are planning events dedicated to LGBT History Month.   
Hahnebohm said she is looking forward to the events planned this month because of the educational opportunities it presents for her and other LGBT students. 
“I’m excited about Spectrum introducing more educational stuff, because I want people to learn more, and I also want to learn more about my community,” she said.