New Harvey Milk Topic: Promoting Tolerance Through Inclusive Curriculum

With LGBTQ issues becoming an increasingly prominent part of our national conversation, many schools are struggling to find the best way to meet new requirements for a more inclusive curriculum.

With that in mind, we’ve launched a new topic profiling Harvey Milk – a champion for gay rights and one of the nation’s first openly gay elected officials. The topic uses Milk’s biography to contextualize the roots of the LGBTQ rights movement and its relationship to modern day issues kids hear about on the news, including the Supreme Court decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

Some states now require LGBTQ-specific topics be addressed within their K-8 social studies curricula. A growing number of school districts are passing resolutions to support LGBT History Month and recognizing the contributions of Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs). The inclusion of such material and support is a matter of safety and well-being: LGBTQ children experience bullying and harassment at far higher rates than their peers, and are twice as likely to miss school because they feel unsafe or uncomfortable there. Inclusive curricula correlate to a better school experience all around.

To help us craft the movie, BrainPOP collaborated with GLSEN, an organization dedicated to creating safe and affirming learning spaces for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We also worked with teachers and advisors who helped us address this content in the most sensitive and effective manner. We owe a huge debt of thanks to all of them and to all of the students who wrote to us requesting/suggesting such a topic.

We do understand that some subscribers may not agree with our decision to offer a Harvey Milk topic, and we’d like to hear from you, too. We will continue to seek customer feedback and maintain an open dialogue with educators and parents to find effective solutions for all of our users.

As is the case with other potentially sensitive BrainPOP topics, we’ve marked this as “Sensitive Content.” We suggest teachers preview it in order to determine ahead of time whether or not it is appropriate to assign to their students.

View our new Harvey Milk topic here.