Reading The Slog this turkey day, a gay teacher laments the fact that she cannot be real with her students. Gay people have been teachers since the beginning of time and it's time we got over it.
My fourth grade teacher, one of my favorites, Miss Smith is/was gay. I didn't know this until I became an adult, and saw this teacher with her partner at the state teacher's convention.
Did her sexuality diminish her ability to teach 4th grade? Not in the least.
She was still the cool teacher who wore yellow, bell-bottomed pant suits with platform heels; had a stuffed armadillo in her supply closet and could be coaxed to tell us interesting stories of her travels to exotic locations like Mexico and Puerto Rico.
I loved her for her kindness, ability to tell a great story, and because she helped me conquer my division tables.
But the teacher in the Slog story laments that she couldn't share one of the happiest moments of her life with her class, an engagement, even if she wanted to because she would be fired. And this to me is sad. Miss Smith had a partner, and she could never talk about her in class.
Why are we so squeamish about living arrangements? I don't share intimate details with my students. Why would we expect a gay person to do so?
It is not a problem if a public school teacher is divorced several times, or has children by several different fathers. So why is it a problem if they are gay?
Teachers are human beings with family issues, economic setbacks, drinking problems, and come in all shapes and sizes. And some of them are gay -- not that being gay should be an 'issue'.
When we see upstanding members of the community who happen to be gay -- teachers, psychologists, doctors, bankers, plumbers, – we see reality, not the made-up, sexually promiscuous, perverted lie that some religious and conservative people would have you believe. Who has a gay agenda???
Let's let the gay teachers come out and be real. It will let our children see the reality of living as a gay person, a normal, boring, hard-working existence.
