A group of male teachers in Spain have been donning skirts to teach a serious lesson in acceptance after a boy, Mikel Gomez, 15, was expelled last year for wearing one to class.
#LaRopaNoTieneGenero (#ClothesHaveNoGender) came to life in October 2020 after Gomez was expelled and referred to a psychologist for showing up to school in a skirt in Bilbao in the Basque Country.
His video about the ordeal on TikTok quickly spread, garnering over 588K likes to date.
His math teacher, Jose Piñas, was one of the first to pick up the torch. In November, he posted:
How about we take this to the next level?
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“20 years ago I suffered persecution and insults for my sexual orientation in the institute where I am now a teacher. Many teachers, they looked the other way. I want to join the cause of the student, Mikel, who has been expelled and sent to the psychologist for going to class with a skirt.”
Hace 20años sufrí persecución e insultos xmi orientación sexual en el instituto en el q ahora soy profesor, muchs profes, miraron para otro lado. Quiero unirme a la causa del alumno, Mikel, q ha sido expulsado y enviado al psicólogo por ir a clase con falda. #LaRopaNoTieneGenero pic.twitter.com/5PEN9vityY
— Jose Piñas (@joxepinas) November 9, 2020
Now even more teachers are joining the trend to combat bullying and promote diversity.
Manuel Ortega, 37, and Borja Velázquez, 36, from the public school Virgen de Sacedón in Valladolid noticed one of their students being bullied because he liked Manga, the Japanese art form.
Having been moved by Gomez’s story and the reaction from his teachers, they decided skirts were the way to go.
They posted their photos to social media, and later explained to Teen Vogue they wanted “to show that we should be open to change and that words cause harm.”
Un cole que educa en el respeto, la diversidad, la coeducaión y la tolerancia. ¡Vístete como quieras! Nos sumamos a la inicitiva #LaRopaNoTieneGénero @CEIPVdeSacedon @educacyl @cfievalladolid @FTriangulo @fecylgtb pic.twitter.com/GgnoejXe2N
— Borja Velázquez (@borjamusico) April 29, 2021
Velázquez wrote on Twitter : “A school that educates with respect, diversity, co-education and tolerance. Dress how you want! We join the campaign #clotheshavenogender.”
So far, the participants say the response has been positive — though they’ve received their fair share of criticism, too. They hope the images and personal stories will help spark conversations around gender stereotypes and acceptance.
Liquid Silver
The second print looks great on that guy, but I think the fourth could use something a bit more flattering to his figure.
RyanMBecker
Dang, Señor Pinas looks hot, even with a mask. The fact that he’s a math nerd is even hotter. I assume that the student, Mikel, is somewhat of a genius if he was in Pinas’ class. Linear algebra (re the matrices on the board) is not normally taught in grade school so it would’ve been an advanced class. Hot!
cubcmh
Yah, I’d totally not be able to concentrate if I were in his class.
#takebacktheskirt
Kangol2
How refreshing to see these teachers standing up for these students, especially in a conservative, predominantly Catholic (still) country. (You know it’s still heavily Catholic when a public school is named after the Virgin Mary!). BTW, when did liking manga become controversial?
RyanMBecker
Please see my post re Spain being the 3rd nation to legalize same-sex marriage.
As for Catholicism, it doesn’t seem to matter much anymore. For example, the majority of American Catholics supported marriage equality when the US was debating the issue. And Ireland, arguably the nation most associated with Catholicism (e.g. “Irish Catholic”), became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage through the popular vote. And as far as I know, it’s still the only nation to do so (Australia had a non-binding referendum, but it only served to guide legislators and did not legalize gay marriage on its own).
All other nations, including very progressive Netherlands and the Nordics, recognized gay marriage through judicial review. In other words, judges ruled that outlawing gay marriage violated their constitution. That raised objections of “activist judges,” especially in the US. But in Ireland, the people voted directly to recognize gay marriage.
That sent shockwaves through the Vatican, and conservative Americans were speechless as well. The Irish themselves weren’t too shocked though. Anyone observing Irish culture might have suspected the results. For example, I was corresponding with several straight Irish men at the time. Suddenly, I saw the HRC yellow equality logo littered on their Facebook pages. These were ordinary straight men, not activists. Indeed, some were hyperhetero teen jocks. Yet they saw fit to show their support for gay rights. At first I was confused, thinking maybe that yellow equal sign means something else in Ireland. But then the news broke and I finally understood. It changed my whole opinion of Ireland.
RyanMBecker
For what it’s worth, many people are surprised to learn that Spain was the 3rd country to legalize same-sex marriage – a full 10 years before the US. I think most people expected one of the Nordic countries to be in the forefront. It was surprising because a lot of people mistakenly associate Spain with Latin America and all its machismo. In truth, it’s a Western European country, both racially and culturally.
As an aside, equally impressive and surprising was that our neighbor, Canada, became the 4th country, just months after Spain.
Fahd
From what I observe Spain is as ideologically polarized as the United States; Like most western European countries nowadays, Spain has a significant and looming right wing party in Vox. Like in the United States, one important aspect of the divide in Spain seems to be urban versus other. So, it is easy to see how that polarization might manifest itself in a provincial capital like Bilbao by the teachers wearing skirts in protest at the same school where a student was expelled and sent to reeducation for wearing a skirt. It’s great when good people do something. Great story! Kudos for uncovering it.
Polaro
While it is a stunt, I approve.
Kevan1
Glad to see teachers with a spine, morals and ethics.
dustychiffon
Never mind what I said before, I love math now.