I 
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 wom-
en’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. CA´RDENAS, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CON-
NOLLY, 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. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. DAVID 
SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. TRONE, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, 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 Amer-
ican History of the Smithsonian Institution to support 
LGBTQI+ history and women’s history education pro-
grams, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘LGBTQI+ and Wom-
en’s History Education Act of 2023’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the New-York Historical Soci-
ety 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 edu-
cation 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 do-
mestic 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 diver-
sity 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 move-
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ments are less frequently included in standards 
and, when included, are covered in less detail, 
providing fewer opportunities to address wom-
en’s contributions to these movements. 
(3) According to a Smithsonian analysis of the 
2017 National Women’s History Museum study, ap-
proximately 1 woman was mentioned for every 3 
men in elementary and secondary education stand-
ards in social studies. 
(4) According to the National Women’s History 
Alliance, only 3 States (Illinois, Florida, and Lou-
isiana) have legislated standards for inclusion of 
women’s history in elementary, middle, and high 
schools instruction. 
(5) According to GLSEN, only 7 States (Cali-
fornia, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, New 
Jersey, and Oregon) have passed legislation in sup-
port 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 kinder-
garten through third grade and, in 2023 the Florida 
legislature expanded this prohibition on instruction 
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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 in-
struction on LGBTQI+ people and issues (Alabama, 
Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Ken-
tucky, 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 (Lou-
isiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas) still have 
‘‘no promo homo’’ laws in place that prohibit posi-
tive 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. 
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(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 electroni-
cally 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+ sec-
ondary students who attended school in-person 
during the 2020–2021 school year, over 76 per-
cent reported being verbally harassed, over 31 
percent reported being physically harassed, and 
over 12 percent reported being physically as-
saulted because of their sexual orientation, gen-
der 
identity, 
or 
gender 
expression 
with 
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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 dis-
crimination from teachers or faculty. 
(13) Nationally, only 16.3 percent of respond-
ents to GLSEN’s 2021 National School Climate 
Survey said they had been taught any positive rep-
resentations 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 experi-
ence improved academic engagement and achieve-
ment. 
(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 cur-
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ricula, they feel a powerful sense of belonging 
and an emphasized identity of resilience. 
(B) GLSEN’s 2021 National School Cli-
mate Survey indicates that, compared to stu-
dents in schools without an LGBTQI+-inclu-
sive 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 fre-
quently; 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 Grif-
fin-Gracy, 
Sylvia 
Rivera, 
and 
Storme´ 
DeLarverie were prominent leaders and partici-
pants of the 1969 protests against unjust police 
raids of the New York City gay bar, the Stone-
wall Inn, that ignited the national movement 
for LGBTQI+ justice. 
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(B) Dr. Margaret Chung, a queer Chinese 
American woman, advocated for Chinese Ameri-
cans’ and women’s right to vote at a time when 
women, particularly women of color, were de-
nied that right. 
(C) Judith Ellen ‘‘Judy’’ Heumann is an 
internationally recognized disability rights advo-
cate who played a leading role in the develop-
ment and implementation of major legislation, 
including the Individuals with Disabilities Edu-
cation Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation 
Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities 
Act, and the Convention on the Rights of Per-
sons 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 ac-
tivist, pioneered the school desegregation move-
ment 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 memori-
alized in her children’s book, Ruby Bridges 
Goes to School: My True Story, continues to in-
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spire girls across the country but was also one 
of the histories specifically targeted for censor-
ship in States prohibiting honest teachings 
about race. 
(17) Discrimination on the basis of sex (includ-
ing sexual orientation and gender identity) com-
pounds 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 inclu-
sive manner. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ESEA TERMS.—The terms ‘‘elementary 
school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, ‘‘secondary 
school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, and ‘‘State’’ have the mean-
ings given such terms in section 8101 of the Ele-
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mentary 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, Indige-
nous, and people of color (‘‘BIPOC’’), people with 
disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, women and girls, and 
all marginalized communities. 
(3) 
INTERSECTIONAL
EDUCATIONAL
AP-
PROACH.—The term ‘‘intersectional educational ap-
proach’’ means a teaching approach that acknowl-
edges, includes, and affirms the unique and com-
pounded forms of discrimination experienced by 
those who live at the intersection of two or more op-
pressed identities. 
(4) 
LGBTQI+.—The 
term 
‘‘LGBTQI+’’ 
means sexual and gender minority populations, in-
cluding individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, 
transgender, queer, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, and 
intersex. 
(5) LGBTQI+ 
HISTORY
EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘LGBTQI+ history education’’ means cul-
turally relevant (to the extent practicable), unbiased, 
non-discriminatory, and accurate education about 
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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 his-
torically 
been 
marginalized 
within 
the 
larger 
LGBTQI+ population. 
(6) WOMEN’S HISTORY EDUCATION.—The term 
‘‘women’s history education’’ means culturally rel-
evant (to the extent practicable), unbiased, non-dis-
criminatory, and accurate education about the roles 
and contributions of women, with a specific focus on 
non-domestic roles, in order to promote representa-
tion and visibility and combat prejudice. 
(7) CULTURALLY RELEVANT.—The term ‘‘cul-
turally relevant’’ means, with respect to education, 
education that is— 
(A) available in multiple languages; 
(B) consistent with census data and demo-
graphics of the area in which the education will 
be provided; and 
(C) addresses culture, community, accom-
plishments, and history, including an accurate 
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account of historical barriers faced by the com-
munity. 
(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 suc-
ceeding 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 re-
sources for classrooms to administer LGBTQI+ and 
women’s history education in an inclusive and inter-
sectional approach, which shall include digital re-
sources 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 
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for administering LGBTQI+ and women’s history 
education. 
(3) The provision of professional development 
services to administer LGBTQI+ and women’s his-
tory 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 his-
tory 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 meet-
ings or organizations; and 
(D) development, operation, and expansion 
of a teacher fellowship program to cultivate and 
support leaders in LGBTQI+ and women’s his-
tory education. 
(4) Engagement with State and local education 
leaders to encourage the adoption of resources sup-
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ported under this Act into curricula across diverse 
disciplines. 
(5) Through an intersectional and inclusive ap-
proach, 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 his-
tory education. 
(6) Through an intersectional and inclusive ap-
proach, increasing resource capacity, technical sup-
port, and content creation to engage various audi-
ences 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 program-
ming with respect to LGBTQI+ and women’s his-
tory education. 
(8) Providing language translation of the work 
of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of 
American History, including scholarly work, re-
search, traveling exhibitions, publications, program-
ming, pamphlets, and other information distributed 
about activities funded under this Act with respect 
to LGBTQI+ and women’s history education. 
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(9) Expanding the collection acquisition and 
collection access processes, including staffing, con-
servation, processing, and digitization with respect 
to LGBTQI+ and women’s history education. 
(10) Creating, developing, implementing, repli-
cating, or taking to scale entrepreneurial, evidence- 
based, field-initiated innovations for museum im-
provement with respect to LGBTQI+ and women’s 
history education, and evaluating rigorously such in-
novations. 
(c) ONLINE LGBTQI+ AND WOMEN’S HISTORY 
EDUCATION RESOURCES.— 
(1) WEBSITE.—In addition to the activities de-
scribed under subsection (b), the Director shall use 
the funds appropriated under subsection (a) to de-
velop and maintain on the website of the Smithso-
nian Institution’s National Museum of American 
History content designated for educators, students, 
and families to improve their awareness and under-
standing of LGBTQI+ and women’s history edu-
cation. 
(2) INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION.—The Direc-
tor shall use such funds to distribute information 
about the activities funded under this Act through 
the website of the Smithsonian Institution’s National 
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Museum of American History, and shall respond to 
inquiries for supplementary information concerning 
such activities. 
(3) CONTINUATION OF ACTIVITIES.—To the ex-
tent that the Smithsonian Institution’s National Mu-
seum 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 Feb-
ruary 1 of each year, the Director shall submit to the Con-
gress 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 Administra-
tion of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
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on Rules and Administration of the Senate on the pro-
grams and activities carried out under this Act. 
(c) SUNSET.—Subsections (a) and (b) shall cease to 
be effective on September 30, 2028. 
Æ 
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