Hannah was never taught about LGBTIQ+ history at school. She's now changing that for the next generation

Members of the LGBTIQ+ community say there's a distinct lack of history of their community taught to students - so they're working to change that through various initiatives.

Hannah McElhinney is co-creator of Rainbow History Class. Source: Supplied

Key Points

• LGBTIQ+ history is largely absent from the education of Australians.
• Members of the community are using social media, among other mediums, to change that.
• Experts say such initiatives are resources for identity and belonging.

Hannah McElhinney wasn't taught much about the history of her community at school.

In fact, she remembers there being "a distinct lack thereof".

"From my experience attending a girls' school at that particular time, anything, I guess, non-heterosexual was treated as inappropriate," the 32-year-old Melbourne-based lesbian told SBS News.

"I think the idea was that it was a dirty thing, or a rude or naughty kind of thing."

It was around the age of 19 when she watched Paris is Burning — a landmark documentary about New York City's drag ball scene in the 1980s — that she began to take a much more active interest in LGBTIQ+ history.

"My mind was blown," she said.

"I started to realise that there was a lot more stuff that was really cool [about the LGBTIQ+ community], and that made me feel not like a loser."

That eventually led to the birth of Rainbow History Class — a TikTok channel she co-created with Rudy Jean Rigg to share little-known facts about LGBTIQ+ history.

They've made videos about everything from where the word "fruity" came from, how Buckingham Palace may have been built on the site of a gay brothel, to the Satanic church being one of the earliest allies of asexual people.

"A lot of queer history and that kind of thing is 'gatekept' by academia," Ms McElhinney said.

"If you're not somebody who has the means or the interest in studying gender studies or one of those history or sociology kind of degrees at university, it's really quite hard to access, so the idea for going deeper and bringing history to people on TikTok was about making it more accessible."

How far back can we trace LGBTIQ+ history?

The Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) in Melbourne is home to Australia's largest collection of historical materials about LGBTIQ+ life.

"We've got the landmark histories of liberation and then the kind of tragic histories of oppression," Timothy Jones, AQuA president and associate professor in history at La Trobe University, told SBS News.

"But I think there's something quite beautiful about learning about the way in which queer and trans people — before we had those labels — found ways to be in the world, and find community and express themselves."

The cult of Antinous, who was the lover of Roman emperor Hadrian, is one example.

"When Antinous died, Hadrian deified him and created this whole religion around his boyfriend, so then in the ancient world there was this queer religion, which, in the late 20th Century, some neo-pagans revived," Associate Professor Jones said.

Timothy Jones is president of the Australian Queer Archives. Source: Supplied

While she was writing her book – also called Rainbow History Class – Ms McElhinney spent most of her time researching how "giant, seismic, historical events", like the Protestant Reformation and World War Two shaped the lives of LGBTIQ+ people.

"The French Revolution had a monumental impact on the lives of homosexual people in France, because it led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and made France the first country to do so," she said.

"I think if we're gonna bother teaching history, in general, paint the full picture, because there are so many brilliant stories to find in the events we're already teaching."

She said what's often left out when students are taught about colonisation is how it brought with it "a specific, binary idea of gender", leading to the pathologisation and criminalisation of LGBTIQ+ identities.

"So many Indigenous cultures on every continent have had documented evidence of people that are gender fluid — or what we might call 'trans' if we were applying today's language to it – those people being often revered in the culture through being a healer, or spiritual leader."

"We know that in the Tiwi Islands, for example, there are words and language that they talk about that suggests that Sistergirls were accepted and embraced, and a really strong part of the culture long before colonisation."

Why is LGBTIQ+ history so important?

Ms McElhinney said learning about the "peaks and troughs of freedom and persecution" LGBTIQ+ people have experienced throughout history has taught her "just how non-linear it is".

"I think there's this understanding that people share that things are progressively getting better for LGBTQ+ people, and that's just not the case," she said.

One current example is Sydney hosting WorldPride — a huge celebration of LGBTIQ+ culture — at the same time as there being "a massive uptick" in persecution against LGBTIQ+ people in the United States.

LGBTIQ+ history can also provide us with "incredible resources for identity and belonging," Associate Professor Jones said.

"There's the sense that for a young queer person or a trans person, you're the first and you're the only one," he said.

"I think there's something really valuable in your sense of belonging and connection, and your dignity, really, as a human by connecting to queer histories."