OPINION | Washington's 'LGBTQ Inclusive Curriculum Bill' Also Includes Significant Limitations

by Oliver Miska

Democratic legislators in Washington State are celebrating the passage of SB 5462, also called the "LGBTQ Inclusive Curriculum Bill." When Gov. Jay Inslee signed the bill in March, Washington became the seventh state to mandate inclusive curriculum into law, joining states like California, whose equivalent law dates back to 2011. National news has picked up the story, heralding it as a landmark victory for LGBTQ rights in the state, while making a number of assumptions about the bill's true impact.

But the bill's reception hasn't been all glitter and rainbows.

In the larger political landscape, LGBTQ rights in education are under attack not only nationwide, but also in Washington. Billionaire-backed Initiative 2081, according to a growing coalition of LGBTQ organizations, threatens the medical and health rights of our LGBTQ students by expanding what is included in a student record. A lawsuit filed on May 23 this year challenges the constitutionality of Initiative 2081, arguing that records made available to parents in abusive or neglectful situations could harm youth seeking shelter from their homes.

So far, coverage has painted a picture that this bill will ensure figures like Cal Anderson, Washington's first openly LGBTQ representative in the state Legislature, will be included in our curriculum. Such claims are aspirational and are not rooted in a clear understanding of the law as it will be implemented by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the State's primary agency for overseeing K—12 education. Assumptions about the significance of this bill are muddled across the board.

Right-wing education-activist groups like Conservative Ladies of Washington (CLW) claim that their issue isn't the LGBTQ nature of the content but the obscene pornographic materials that are inappropriate. But their criticism goes further on the issue of "local control," claiming the State is overstretching its reach for what must be included in local districts. The local control argument echoes the "states' rights" arguments used by right-wing politicians since before the Civil War. Conservative groups like to point to our state's alarmingly low test scores in both math and reading as an argument that we should focus on the fundamentals, and not spend money virtue-signaling DEI principles with half-baked bureaucratic top-down policy.

Misconception echoed in the media stems from sensationalizing comments made by our lawmakers. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Marko Liias of Edmonds' 21st Legislative District, has been repeatedly quoted stating: "The contributions of gay Washingtonians deserve recognition, and just as importantly, students deserve to see themselves in their schoolwork. That leads to better attendance, better academic achievement, and better overall quality of life." His words are true, but aspirational.

His point does address the conservative argument that this type of curriculum reform fails to remedy our state's low math and reading scores, but there is a good deal of research showing that students' scores improve when their curriculum is culturally responsive. Students are more engaged and learn better when the material is relevant, interesting, and responds to the world they see.

In reality, the bill does not ensure that the contributions of LGBTQ Washingtonians will be in our curriculum. It also provides no funding for the research and development of an LGBTQ curriculum.

What Does the Bill Actually Do?

Despite lawmakers' hopes for "significant" LGBTQ Washingtonians to be represented in our curriculum, this bill's scope creates a screening tool for reviewing our state's materials through a more inclusive lens by developing a "model policy" for "course design, selection, and adoption of instructional materials." The questions of what and whose stories we tell, who will be included in determining these criteria, and most significantly how we decide these important questions remain unanswered.

The bill instructs OSPI and Washington State School Directors' Association to "update a model policy and procedure regarding course design, selection, and adoption of instructional materials … [to] include the histories, contributions, and perspectives of historically marginalized and underrepresented groups including, but not limited to, people from various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, people with differing learning needs, people with disabilities, LGBTQ people, and people with various socioeconomic and immigration backgrounds."

The bill indicates that the State's "model policy" will then instruct local districts (here is where the right-wing groups have a problem) to include not only LGBTQ people but also a lengthy list of identities from underrepresented communities traditionally centered in ethnic studies.

While the bill doesn't invest in creating a new curriculum that includes LGBTQ Washingtonians, it theoretically should trigger a need to fulfill what theoretically will be a portfolio of curriculum and materials that don't meet the standards of the new screening tool. The state's current screening for bias tool currently is a mere suggestion to districts with no clear accountability on implementation. It sets the State up to find districts' curricula out of compliance with no clear path forward.

Fortunately, many schools report their districts already teach LGBTQ curriculum because it is integrated into the Ethnic Studies Framework developed and released by the Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee in 2022. LGBTQ curriculum has often come from states that have already passed legislation and are a few years ahead on the grueling path to inclusion.

In California, for example, similar legislation in 2011 left organizers scrambling to develop LGBTQ curriculum, with much of their curriculum development dependent on grants and community partnerships. In Washington, we can buck the trend and invest in developing partnerships between our local districts and community organizations that have experience in the histories of underrepresented populations, as defined by the bill.

Many of these groups are already addressed in ethnic studies legislation passed in 2019 and 2020, but only "encourages" such instruction. The question of how this broader "mandate" will be implemented has yet to be determined, with the State's Board of Education adopting a resolution of intent to make ethnic studies a graduation requirement. In a legislative recap for the 2024 legislative session, Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, chair of the House Education Committee, called on the need for the state Legislature to take action in investing in ethnic studies. Washington Ethnic Studies Now, who is convening a coalition to advocate for ethnic studies legislation this coming session, is suggesting that the development of LGBTQ curriculum can best be implemented through an intersectional solidarity approach within ethnic studies.

Local LGBTQ leader and community organizer DeAunte Damper, of VOCAL-WA, said, "With what is happening in Florida to erase our histories, we in Washington should continue to leave the light on for our most impacted communities with not only inclusivity, but also cultural humility and systems accountability."

So What's Next?

According to SB 5462, OSPI will consult with the State's LGBTQ Commission, a governor-appointed advisory board of 15 commissioners who identify as part of the LGBTQ community to " review and update existing state learning standards at all grade levels to incorporate contributions and perspectives of LGBTQ+ people." Washington has an extensive LGBTQ history. While reviewing standards can provide some guidance for teachers, unless curriculum is made and local scopes and sequences are changed, there is very little that this law will change about our classrooms. The Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) recently announced an exciting grant that would fund the first project to survey and identify Washington LGBTQ landmarks. This is the groundwork for how our LGBTQ curriculum will be written, but it's unclear how our state grant proposals ensure equitable access and inclusivity of underrepresented communities within the process. Some community organizers are advocating for DAHP to submit a budget proviso to the legislature to fund lived-experience experts to collaborate on this work. History is written by the contract winners.

The LGBTQ Commission is a starting place for a conversation on how best to implement LGBTQ legislation, but they should not be the last stop for deciding who gets a seat at the table or a page in our history books. The DEI inclusion model the State has created is siloed and checked off, and inter-governmental agency collaboration has been in crisis since 2020.

Will our students learn about how queer organizers are fighting to protect Denny Blaine Nude Beach from billionaire private interests' plan to build a playground in the LGBTQ space this year? Will they learn of the numerous shuttered gay bars in Pioneer Square and the enforcement of transphobic and homophobic obscenity laws in 20th-century Seattle? Will they study the legislative victory of SB 6105, the Strippers Bill of Rights this session, thanks to the groundbreaking work of strippers and the queer community coming together for shared protections?

Unfortunately, the bill's passage was in no great part owing to the leadership of the state's 43rd District's own LGBTQ Sen. Jamie Pedersen, who only committed to supporting the bill until there was enough support to get it passed. As the living legacy of Cal Anderson in the 43rd District, the senator who represents Seattle's Capitol Hill "gayborhood" has a greater responsibility to lead with conviction on transformative change at the state Legislature, not just unfunded mandates. With school districts across the state facing record budget deficits, it is time for the legislature to take action to pass legislation that will center our lived-experienced communities in policy making and implementation. This disappointment with LGBTQ lawmakers was recently echoed by journalist Hannah Krieg, suggesting that accountability doesn't end with representation.

Thanks to leaders in the Members of Color Caucus, HB 1541, the "Nothing About Us Without Us" bill, was signed into law in March of this year. There is some hope that any legislative task force, committee, or commission this work involves will compensate community members with lived experience to be a part of the process of developing legislation that impacts our communities. However, according to Jenny Plaja, the director of government relations at OSPI, she is "not aware of any funds provided (or requested) for the commissions to do any additional consultation explicitly related to SB 5462. The only funding for implementation of SB 5462 in the budget is for OSPI to implement the administrative elements tasked to us."

Now that these bills are law, we, as grassroots advocates, are forced to play accountability whack-a-mole to ensure implementation and to inform our strategies for our legislative priorities next session.

According to the law, these answers will be determined by OSPI and LGBTQ Commission. Washington Ethnic Studies Now's coalition is in conversation with OSPI and lawmakers to 1) push for accountability and intersectional solidarity and 2) advocate for further legislation to invest in teacher preparation and curriculum development.

But many questions still remain: How will this curriculum be created? Who should we commemorate in our local Washington LGBTQ history? And who should be included in this conversation to ensure OSPI will not whitewash, pinkwash, or sanitize the diverse and radical history of LGBTQ Washingtonians?

We are not asking for a tokenizing "seat at the table," but a table for ourselves to collectively determine how our stories and knowledge will pass to our future generations.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Oliver Treanor Miska, 33, is a queer Seattleite, educator, community organizer, and lobbyist for educational justice policy in Washington State. Transitioning out of Seattle classrooms after six years, they recently founded Solidarity Policy and Public Affairs, a political consulting firm. As a community organizer, Oliver has held leadership roles within Seattle Democratic Socialist of America and Washington Ethnic Studies Now, where they co-lead a statewide legislative coalition. Oliver is organizing to advocate for progressive revenue and equitable distribution of education spending policy at the state Legislature. To contact them, email solidaritypolicywa@gmail.com

📸 Featured Image: Parade marchers carry a giant Pride flag during the 2022 Seattle Pride Parade. (Photo: Susan Fried)