There are many who arrived at this school on their first days as wide-eyed freshmen, without a single day of formalized education in one vital subject. While their minds might whir with math functions and battle dates, and while their SAT and AP scores might soar off the charts, they are unfamiliar with an entire population that has been largely silenced within the classroom. There are many who think that Stonewall only refers to the Confederate general Stonewall Jackson and not to the riots that rocked Greenwich Village in the late 1960s. That vital subject is the history of the LGBT community.

California has taken steps to prevent this longstanding issue of ignorance, and other states should do the same.

On Thursday, a landmark bill was passed in support of including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people among a list of social and ethnic groups that must be covered in social studies lessons in California public schools. If signed by Governor Jerry Brown, California would be the first state to include the teaching of gay history in its curriculum.

As a college student, I wish that I had the same opportunities to learn about LGBT history at my Arizona high school. While I have long been familiar with the debate surrounding the place of sexuality discrimination in the legal system, my interest has been purely extracurricular, gleaned from newspaper articles and debates with friends. As a senior, I have spent 16 years of formalized education without a mention of a minority that has just as legitimate a voice and history as any other group. Legislation is making some progress to even the playing field. However, it seems that this process is weighed down by the issue of ignorance—which could be mitigated by following California’s example.

While society is making strides, schools should be as well.

Of course, this raises the question of what merits inclusion in a textbook. Some will argue that the murky lines of sexuality make a definitive, cohesive educational effort an almost impossible task. Even the term LGBT has a negative connotation with those smaller communities that do not identify with the four-letter acronym. If we can’t decide on a chapter name, how on earth can we decide on the content? More specifically, which voices deserve recognition within a text that will be read by millions of young minds? All of them. Whether this is possible at this juncture is debatable. Whether this should be a point of open discussion and understanding in a formal, safe setting is not.

Sexuality is complicated. I’m pretty sure that hormonal high school students will have no problem grasping that concept.

The recent wave of suicides among students due to bullying as a result of sexual orientation proves that what we need is more understanding, not less. Ignorance is not bliss, but a burden and a barrier when what we need is to understand each other in an increasingly complex world. With more education bills similar to California’s, we might just be taking a step in the right direction.