Homophobia in schools is nothing new — just last week we followed the story of a gay Texas teen being pushed back into the closet by his religious high school. The principal’s response? Basically, “No gays allowed.”
But there’s another kind of homophobia in schools, and now teachers in the British Union NASUWT are speaking up about student and/or faculty harassment of LGBTI educators.
In fact, 12 percent of LGBTI teachers report verbal abuse by students or other faculty, and half of those felt their schools don’t take antigay bullying seriously.
Faculty on faculty bullying is grossly unacceptable, but we’re more curious about students who bully their LGBTI teachers. Kids can be cruel, especially about things they don’t fully understand, so we’d hope that instances of harassment are being used as teachable moments.
How about we take this to the next level?
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The survey comes ahead of the opposition Labour party’s announcement of their plans to tackle homophobia in schools, incorporating a curriculum of age-appropriate lessons into classes.
The current Coalition Government actually decided not to equalize pension survivor benefits to civil partners or same-sex couples, a move that 95 percent of the teaching union finds “unjustifiable.”
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, added:
“Despite assertions to the contrary, the Coalition Government has rolled back the progress made over decades on equality and we see the adverse impact this is having on teachers and pupils in our schools.
Post the General Election, we need a government which is committed to creating a climate in our schools where all children and young people and staff feel respected and safe.”
Are you a teacher who has been harassed by faculty or students where you work? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected].
h/t GayStarNews
bottom250
Gay teachers stay strong you are a role model for the gay kids in your classes.
polarisfashion
@bottom250: Even the straight kids can benefit from having a gay teacher. They can learn that gays aren’t the sick perverted weirdos that the bigots and haters say we are. In time they can also learn that its perfectly fine to have gay friends.
scottvegas
First time a kid said faggot around me he sat in my classroom writing for 3 days after school “I will show proper respect for my teachers, parents, classmates, and mankind.” over and over and over again. Whatever the others think or say behind my back i don’t give a shit about…because most of them don’t care..we have bigger things to worry about than whether I suck dick or not….
bottom250
@polarisfashion:
Sweetheart you are so right. Straight kids do gain so much from having strong gay role models as well.
siflwr
This isn’t a new development.. it’s been happening for as long as I can remember being in school. Only then teachers didn’t have the support from others as “understanding” as today society is claiming to be. One comment I heard just yesterday was that it was easier (being a gay teacher) before everyone decided to come out of the closet. The stereotypes then were just “Faggot” or “Gay”. Now the list of discriminating terms is as long and hateful as the terms themselves.
Billy Budd
I got a bit of harassment from my peers, but my students only gave me love, lots of love, when I taught in the US.
Clark35
@siflwr: Very true. When I’ve worked as a teacher the students were no problem as they were not against LGBT people; but other faculty members however were homophobic or biphobic and made bigoted jokes, etc.
billbennett42
I loved my work at Bentley University in Waltham, MA until they hired the most homophobic (and I believe to this day – a closeted gay male) Vice President for Advancement, John Mosser (now a VP somewhere in the Northwest). He was always so uncomfortable around me….especially since I was an open and happy gay man. Even in higher education, where one thinks this could not happen, it DID!
billbennett42
Homophobia is still everywhere…..just a few more states to go before the entire US allows gay marriage.
dtlajim
I’m very lucky. This school year I’m out at my Los Angeles area middle school to my faculty and my students. I often mention my husband in class this year. No problems and lots of support.
jwtraveler
One problem that LGBT teachers still face in 29 states is that if they come out, they risk being fired. It puts them in quite a bind. How do you fight against homophobic bullying without admitting that you’re gay? Gay marriage does not solve this problem. In fact, it can make it worse. We’ve read about many cases where people were outed because they got married, which resulted in them being fired.
“In 29 states LGBT people still have no housing or employment rights. Gay rights is not all about gay marriage.”
Fleuron
City Councilman Daniel “Danny” Dromm in NYC, the Chair of the City Council’s Education Committee, is a former elementary school teacher in Queens County, who came out to his class in the 1990s.
http://danieldromm.com/about
http://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Daniel+Dromm%22
http://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=%22Daniel+Dromm%22+%22Frank+Borzellieri%22
A former member of Community School Board 24, Frank Borzellieri, who was very much against gay teachers, and homosexuality, in general, wrote a book in which he mentioned Danny Dromm numerous times:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/90637683/Lynched-A-Conservative-s-Life-on-a-New-York-City-School-Bord
(Click on the magnifying glass and search for “Dromm” or scroll down to the index.)
Danny Dromm’s experiences as an out teacher are quite informative.
He was very lucky that he had political support, even back in his teacher days.
KingKong
“In fact, 12 percent of LGBTI teachers report verbal abuse by students or other faculty, and half of those felt their schools don’t take antigay bullying seriously.”
This wording makes it seem as though only half of the 12% (aka only 6%) said they feel their schools don’t take anti gay bullying seriously. This number seemed wildly low to me so I went to the source, and they write that more than half of all of the teachers surveyed (>50%) felt their schools didn’t take anti gay bullying seriously. Just wanted to clarify… They also report that, while only 12% had experienced verbal abuse, over 50% felt that they had been discriminated against because of their orientation, and only a third felt they could be “out and safe at school.” I just wanted to point these out because if I had only read Queerty’s article it would seem to me that a very small portion of LGBT teachers have problems in school related to being LGBT, which is unfortunately very far from the truth.
Ryan26pdx
Where did “A” go? When I was in high school ten years ago building my town’s first LBGTQIA club with my peers, straight allies were vital in bridging gaps between people and helping the community to realize that even amidst a blizzard of letters identifying individuality, our differences could exist without separating us. My straight history teacher had his job threatened for facilitating our high school club, but never broke a sweat when peacefully defending us. He was (RIP) a rather wise dude who reiterated to every opposing faculty member,
“How sad it is that so many educated adults are so obviously on the wrong side of history.”
SteveDenver
I’m glad the educator’s union is speaking up about the problem, and I’m really glad that in my lifetime the attitudes have turned from firing all GLBT educators to public discussion of harassment and abuses. I still remember a very respected teacher and coach who was Black being called the N-word by a parent at a game. The ref shut down the game, called the parent out and ejected them to cheers, and the coach jogged onto center court and gave a bow of thanks. I felt my world changing at that very moment. I hope a similar change takes place regarding homophobic abuse.
Daffyd
I’ve had many bad experiences as a Gay teacher. Everything from death threats on tape from students wearing masks that the administration “lost”, to having an administrator apologize to a student in front of me for having to hire a teacher “like that”…
I’ve had administrators attack and harass me over and over for being Gay, and only later talked with another Gay teacher who had gone through the same thing from the same vice principal while that teacher was going through chemotherapy… and that VP was the person you were supposed to go to for problems with harassment!
I’ve had students call me a faggot to my face in class, and parents threaten to pull their kids from my class because I’m Gay… but I refuse to be anyone but myself, since I remember being a Gay kid and not having any Gay role models growing up.
On the brighter side, I’m still in touch with many Gay students who used to be in my school’s Gay/Straight Alliance who are now in their late 20’s and have told me that my being open made a difference way back when…
enfilmigult
@Fleuron: Yikes, that book. Thanks for linking to that.
jd2222248
I am a gay teacher/coach……I don’t tolerate any name calling in my classroom. When It happens, I schedule a meeting with the parents/guardian. Sometimes, after meeting the parents, I understand why the student is name calling.
not happening in my classroom! 🙂
JB
@bottom250: And the straight kids, too.
Ridpathos
Gay teacher here.
I teach middle school, and middle school kids can be cruel. I used to be afraid of not being respected as a teacher if they found out I was gay. My very first year, this put me into a position where it was difficult for me to call out students if they were being anti-gay to others.
Near the end of my first year, I just decided to own it. I was gay. I didn’t care if students found out, and I would immediately call them out if they were using gay slurs. If somebody said something like, “that’s so gay.” I could immediately say, “I’m gay. Is that a problem for you?”
I’m one of the most well-liked teachers in the school by both teachers and students. Owning who I am gave me a much stronger position to teach from and I am able to demand respect for other students I teach and for myself. Kids I wouldn’t have expected to respect me (perhaps because I judged by appearances) I’ve found were very accepting.
bobmister250
@jwtraveler: Unions often prevent that kind of thing for members. While I really frown upon unions in most instances, this is one area where they are needed and can be useful.
bobmister250
@Daffyd: Holy shit, you have dealt with way too much shit. I hope things get better for you, and I have to wonder where you teach. Sending positive energies your way!
Daffyd
@bobmister250:
Things have gotten a lot better… By the way, all the issues happened either in the “enlightened” SF Bay Area, or Los Angeles…
When the principal apologized to a student for hiring a Gay teacher, I was on the phone in hours to the California Teacher’s Association, who showed up and met with the principal and I and threatened a lawsuit against the school and district. I never had another problem with the VP after that… I think she hid from me!
The death threat just basically got buried… I still ask myself whey I didn’t bring it to the police and not the principal… Maybe it would have gotten properly taken care of. But I wasn’t quite thinking right when I saw a tape with students in masks threatening to kill the Gay teacher… Luckily I’m still here, Strangely, there were a lot of Russian students at the school, and the kids on the tape were Russian… Boris Yeltsin would have been proud of these thugs.
After putting up with a year of harassment at the other school for being Gay, when it started again on the first week of classes, I demanded a meeting with the principal and harasser and told them I was changing to another school – I wasn’t giving them two weeks notice, and if they didn’t do it I’d be suing their ass… I’d had enough. I started teaching at another school the next week.