[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4273 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4273

To authorize the Director of the National Museum of American History of 
  the Smithsonian Institution to support LGBTQI+ history and women's 
          history education programs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 2023

  Ms. Balint (for herself, Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Bonamici, Ms. 
Brown, Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Chu, Ms. Clarke of New York, Mr. Connolly, Ms. 
 Crockett, Ms. Davids of Kansas, Mr. Green of Texas, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
 Khanna, Mr. Lynch, Ms. Meng, Mr. Mullin, Ms. Norton, Mr. Raskin, Ms. 
Sanchez, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Stansbury, Mr. 
    Trone, Ms. Velazquez, and Ms. Wilson of Florida) introduced the 
     following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 
                             Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize the Director of the National Museum of American History of 
  the Smithsonian Institution to support LGBTQI+ history and women's 
          history education programs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``LGBTQI+ and Women's History 
Education Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to the New-York Historical Society Museum & 
        Library, only 13 percent of named historical figures in 
        textbooks across the United States are women.
            (2) In 2017, the National Women's History Museum analyzed 
        elementary and secondary education standards in social studies 
        for all 50 States and the District of Columbia and found that:
                    (A) 53 percent of the mentions of women's history 
                were included within the context of domestic roles, 
                compared to 20 percent that were included within the 
                context of voting rights and suffrage, 9 percent in 
                women's rights movement of the 19th and mid-20th 
                centuries, 8 percent that were included within the 
                context of the civil rights movement, and 2 percent 
                that were included within the context of being in the 
                workforce.
                    (B) Named women do not reflect the diversity of 
                women and their contributions--only 8 percent of named 
                women are Hispanic and no named women are Asian 
                American.
                    (C) Disability rights, Native American rights, 
                LGBTQI+, and migrant labor movements are less 
                frequently included in standards and, when included, 
                are covered in less detail, providing fewer 
                opportunities to address women's contributions to these 
                movements.
            (3) According to a Smithsonian analysis of the 2017 
        National Women's History Museum study, approximately 1 woman 
        was mentioned for every 3 men in elementary and secondary 
        education standards in social studies.
            (4) According to the National Women's History Alliance, 
        only 3 States (Illinois, Florida, and Louisiana) have 
        legislated standards for inclusion of women's history in 
        elementary, middle, and high schools instruction.
            (5) According to GLSEN, only 7 States (California, 
        Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, and 
        Oregon) have passed legislation in support of an LGBTQI+ 
        inclusive curriculum.
            (6) In March 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed 
        HB 1557 into law. Commonly known as the ``Don't Say Gay or 
        Trans'' legislation, this law prevents teachers from 
        administering instruction on sexual orientation and gender 
        identity in kindergarten through third grade and, in 2023 the 
        Florida legislature expanded this prohibition on instruction to 
        8th grade (HB 1069), and the State Board of Education further 
        expanded this prohibition through 12th grade, with the 
        exception of health education.
            (7) According to the Movement Advancement Project, between 
        2021 and May 2023, 9 States passed curriculum censorship laws 
        that restrict instruction on LGBTQI+ people and issues 
        (Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, 
        Montana, and Tennessee).
            (8) According to the African American Policy Forum, at 
        least 16 States have passed racial and gender equity curriculum 
        prohibitions.
            (9) According to the ACLU, there have been over 200 anti-
        LGBTQI+ school and education bills introduced in 2023 in State 
        legislatures around the country, as of May 2023.
            (10) According to GLSEN, 4 States (Louisiana, Mississippi, 
        Oklahoma, and Texas) still have ``no promo homo'' laws in place 
        that prohibit positive and affirming representations of LGBTQI+ 
        identities in schools.
            (11) According to the CDC's 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey 
        of high school students, girls are more likely to be bullied at 
        school and electronically than boys.
            (12) LGBTQI+ youth experience high rates of mistreatment in 
        schools:
                    (A) According to the CDC's 2021 Youth Risk Behavior 
                Survey of high school students, lesbian, gay and 
                bisexual students are nearly twice as likely to be 
                bullied at school and are more than twice as likely to 
                be bullied electronically than their non-LGB peers.
                    (B) According to CDC's 2017 Youth Risk Behavior 
                Survey, high school students who identify as 
                transgender are more likely to be bullied at school and 
                electronically than cisgender girls and more than twice 
                as likely to be bullied at school and electronically 
                than cisgender boys.
                    (C) According to GLSEN's 2021 National School 
                Climate Survey, among LGBTQI+ secondary students who 
                attended school in-person during the 2020-2021 school 
                year, over 76 percent reported being verbally harassed, 
                over 31 percent reported being physically harassed, and 
                over 12 percent reported being physically assaulted 
                because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, 
                or gender expression with transgender students 
                reporting the highest rates of in-person victimization.
                    (D) According to a 2021 Trevor Project report, 45 
                percent of intersex students reported experiencing 
                gender-based harassment or discrimination from teachers 
                or faculty.
            (13) Nationally, only 16.3 percent of respondents to 
        GLSEN's 2021 National School Climate Survey said they had been 
        taught any positive representations of LGBTQI+ people, history, 
        or events in their classes, which represents a 3-point decline 
        from the 2019 survey.
            (14) According to the CDC's 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey 
        of high school students, women and girls, LGBQ+ students, and 
        students of color were least likely to feel connected at 
        school.
            (15) Countless studies show that when youth feel seen and 
        affirmed in their curricula, they experience improved academic 
        engagement and achievement.
                    (A) In participatory research the National Women's 
                Law Center conducted in partnership with Latina girls 
                in 2019, the girls reported that when they feel 
                represented in their curricula, they feel a powerful 
                sense of belonging and an emphasized identity of 
                resilience.
                    (B) GLSEN's 2021 National School Climate Survey 
                indicates that, compared to students in schools without 
                an LGBTQI+-inclusive curriculum, LGBTQI+ students in 
                schools with an LGBTQI+-inclusive curriculum were less 
                likely to hear homophobic slurs or negative remarks 
                about transgender people often or frequently; feel 
                unsafe because of their sexuality or gender identity; 
                or miss school because they felt unsafe or 
                uncomfortable.
            (16) Women and LGBTQI+ people--including those of color and 
        those with disabilities--have been and continue to be powerful 
        agents of change in United States history. For example:
                    (A) Black and Brown transgender women, including 
                Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Sylvia 
                Rivera, and Storme DeLarverie were prominent leaders 
                and participants of the 1969 protests against unjust 
                police raids of the New York City gay bar, the 
                Stonewall Inn, that ignited the national movement for 
                LGBTQI+ justice.
                    (B) Dr. Margaret Chung, a queer Chinese American 
                woman, advocated for Chinese Americans' and women's 
                right to vote at a time when women, particularly women 
                of color, were denied that right.
                    (C) Judith Ellen ``Judy'' Heumann is an 
                internationally recognized disability rights advocate 
                who played a leading role in the development and 
                implementation of major legislation, including the 
                Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Section 
                504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans 
                with Disabilities Act, and the Convention on the Rights 
                of Persons with Disabilities.
                    (D) Alice Wong is a queer disabled activist and the 
                founder and director of the Disability Visibility 
                Project who served on the National Council on 
                Disability.
                    (E) Ruby Bridges, a Black civil rights activist, 
                pioneered the school desegregation movement and was 
                among the first Black students to integrate schools in 
                the South at the age of six. Ruby's story, particularly 
                as it was memorialized in her children's book, Ruby 
                Bridges Goes to School: My True Story, continues to 
                inspire girls across the country but was also one of 
                the histories specifically targeted for censorship in 
                States prohibiting honest teachings about race.
            (17) Discrimination on the basis of sex (including sexual 
        orientation and gender identity) compounds with discrimination 
        on the basis of other identities, such as race, national 
        identity, religious background, or disability. Within 
        marginalized groups, compounding layers of discrimination 
        across intersectional identities often results in the most 
        marginalized members of a group being silenced or left out of 
        historical narratives.
            (18) All women, LGBTQI+ people, and those living at the 
        intersection of those identities, deserve to be represented in 
        classrooms across the country in an accurate, unbiased, 
        intersectional, and inclusive manner.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) ESEA terms.--The terms ``elementary school'', ``local 
        educational agency'', ``secondary school'', ``Secretary'', and 
        ``State'' have the meanings given such terms in section 8101 of 
        the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        7801).
            (2) Inclusive educational approach.--The term ``inclusive 
        educational approach'' means a teaching approach that 
        acknowledges, includes, and affirms experiences of people who 
        are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (``BIPOC''), people 
        with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, women and girls, and all 
        marginalized communities.
            (3) Intersectional educational approach.--The term 
        ``intersectional educational approach'' means a teaching 
        approach that acknowledges, includes, and affirms the unique 
        and compounded forms of discrimination experienced by those who 
        live at the intersection of two or more oppressed identities.
            (4) LGBTQI+.--The term ``LGBTQI+'' means sexual and gender 
        minority populations, including individuals who are lesbian, 
        gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, and 
        intersex.
            (5) LGBTQI+ history education.--The term ``LGBTQI+ history 
        education'' means culturally relevant (to the extent 
        practicable), unbiased, non-discriminatory, and accurate 
        education about the roles and contributions of LGBTQI+ 
        individuals in order to promote representation and visibility 
        and combat prejudice, inclusive of multiple identities within 
        LGBTQI+ populations, including transgender, nonbinary, gender 
        non-conforming, Two-Spirit, and intersex individuals, which 
        have historically been marginalized within the larger LGBTQI+ 
        population.
            (6) Women's history education.--The term ``women's history 
        education'' means culturally relevant (to the extent 
        practicable), unbiased, non-discriminatory, and accurate 
        education about the roles and contributions of women, with a 
        specific focus on non-domestic roles, in order to promote 
        representation and visibility and combat prejudice.
            (7) Culturally relevant.--The term ``culturally relevant'' 
        means, with respect to education, education that is--
                    (A) available in multiple languages;
                    (B) consistent with census data and demographics of 
                the area in which the education will be provided; and
                    (C) addresses culture, community, accomplishments, 
                and history, including an accurate account of 
                historical barriers faced by the community.
            (8) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian 
        Institution.

SEC. 4. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

    (a) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and 
for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.
    (b) Use of Funds.--The Director, in accordance with any program of 
the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution 
established before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
shall use funds appropriated under subsection (a) to carry out the 
following activities:
            (1) The development and national dissemination of accurate, 
        relevant, and accessible national resources for classrooms to 
        administer LGBTQI+ and women's history education in an 
        inclusive and intersectional approach, which shall include 
        digital resources and may include other types of resources, 
        such as print resources and traveling exhibitions.
            (2) The development, national dissemination, and 
        implementation of principles of sound pedagogy for 
        administering LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
            (3) The provision of professional development services to 
        administer LGBTQI+ and women's history education, such as 
        through--
                    (A) local, regional, and national workshops to 
                provide technical assistance;
                    (B) teacher trainings or engagement in conjunction 
                with LGBTQI+ and women's history education centers and 
                other appropriate partners;
                    (C) engagement with--
                            (i) local educational agencies;
                            (ii) State education agencies;
                            (iii) schools that are independent of any 
                        local educational agency; and
                            (iv) school-based extracurricular meetings 
                        or organizations; and
                    (D) development, operation, and expansion of a 
                teacher fellowship program to cultivate and support 
                leaders in LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
            (4) Engagement with State and local education leaders to 
        encourage the adoption of resources supported under this Act 
        into curricula across diverse disciplines.
            (5) Through an intersectional and inclusive approach, 
        convening experts, providing opportunities for discourse, and 
        engaging with the public through programming, educational 
        resources, and social media with respect to LGBTQI+ and women's 
        history education.
            (6) Through an intersectional and inclusive approach, 
        increasing resource capacity, technical support, and content 
        creation to engage various audiences in person and via online 
        platforms with respect to LGBTQI+ and women's history 
        education.
            (7) Creating, expanding, and disseminating scholarly work 
        through research, curricula, in-house and traveling 
        exhibitions, publications, and programming with respect to 
        LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
            (8) Providing language translation of the work of the 
        Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, 
        including scholarly work, research, traveling exhibitions, 
        publications, programming, pamphlets, and other information 
        distributed about activities funded under this Act with respect 
        to LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
            (9) Expanding the collection acquisition and collection 
        access processes, including staffing, conservation, processing, 
        and digitization with respect to LGBTQI+ and women's history 
        education.
            (10) Creating, developing, implementing, replicating, or 
        taking to scale entrepreneurial, evidence-based, field-
        initiated innovations for museum improvement with respect to 
        LGBTQI+ and women's history education, and evaluating 
        rigorously such innovations.
    (c) Online LGBTQI+ and Women's History Education Resources.--
            (1) Website.--In addition to the activities described under 
        subsection (b), the Director shall use the funds appropriated 
        under subsection (a) to develop and maintain on the website of 
        the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American 
        History content designated for educators, students, and 
        families to improve their awareness and understanding of 
        LGBTQI+ and women's history education.
            (2) Information distribution.--The Director shall use such 
        funds to distribute information about the activities funded 
        under this Act through the website of the Smithsonian 
        Institution's National Museum of American History, and shall 
        respond to inquiries for supplementary information concerning 
        such activities.
            (3) Continuation of activities.--To the extent that the 
        Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History 
        is engaged in an activity described in subsection (b) or this 
        subsection on the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
        Director may use the funds appropriated under subsection (a) to 
        continue that activity.

SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) Report Requirement.--Not later than February 1 of each year, 
the Director shall submit to the Congress and make available to the 
public a report describing how the funds made available under this Act 
have been used--
            (1) to create and promote educational activities; and
            (2) to otherwise carry out this Act.
    (b) Briefings.--Not later than 6 months after the date on which 
funding is first distributed under this Act, and annually thereafter, 
the Director or the Director's designee shall brief the Committee on 
House Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Rules and Administration of the Senate on the programs and 
activities carried out under this Act.
    (c) Sunset.--Subsections (a) and (b) shall cease to be effective on 
September 30, 2028.
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