First celebrated in 1994, LGBTQ History Month celebrates the achievements of 31 lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender human beings. Each day in October, a new LGBT Icon is featured on the LGBT History Month website with a video, bio, bibliography, and downloadable images. Therefore, from Susan B. Anthony and Althea Garrison to Frédéric Chopin and Liberace, the website highlights important political and creative voices from history.

Moreover, October is a month that also includes several opportunities to raise awareness. For example, October 24th to the 30th is Asexual Awareness Week. Thus, as an awareness campaign during the last week of October, Asexual Awareness Week is a campaign about raising awareness. Indeed, on the ACE Week website, the movement seeks to educate the public about asexual, aromantic, demisexual, and grey-asexual experiences.

Conceived in 1996 to coincide with LGBT History Month, October 26th is Intersex Awareness Day. Spotlighting the challenges faced by intersex people, the day focuses on raising awareness about human rights issues that Intersex people face worldwide. Moreover, it also marks the first demonstration by intersex people in North America. The Intersex Awareness Day website provides a wealth of information and resources.

Tarzana Treatment Centers = LGBT History Month Institutional Ally

As an extension of our mission to provide healthcare to underserved populations and promote equality across the board, Tarzana Treatment Centers, Inc. (TTC) has been an institutional ally of the goals and objectives of LGBT History Month. Indeed, by raising awareness and providing access to quality information, there is an ongoing shift from prejudice to understanding.

As expressed on the TTC website, and in much greater detail than excerpted here, “Tarzana Treatment Centers, Inc. (TTC) stands unequivocally in support of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQQI2S) Community… TTC recognizes that LGBTQQI2S individuals… face particular and detrimental challenges when attempting to seek help. (We want)… to assure staff and patients that we will do whatever we can to ensure that their sexual orientation is never used against them… and that there are existing systems in place to ensure that this type of discrimination is not tolerated.”

The History of LGBT History Month and Raising Awareness

In 1994, Rodney Wilson, a Missouri high school teacher, began a movement to celebrate and teach gay and lesbian history. Endorsed by GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the National Education Association, and other national organizations, LGBT History Month has become a new reality. In 2006, Equality Forum assumed responsibility for providing content, promotion, and resources for LGBT History Month.

Hence, wanting to help youth, the emphasis of the observance month is to provide role models and build community bridges. Also, the team constructs civil rights statements to keep up with the changing needs of an organic community. Therefore, the goal is to highlight the community’s extraordinary national and international contributions.

As George Chauncey, the Chair of the History Department at Yale University, expresses, “LGBT History Month sends an important message to our nation’s teachers, school boards, community leaders, and youth about the vital importance of recognizing and exploring the role of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in American history.”