Amongst the children in our classrooms are the wounded, voulnerable ones desperatley looking for understanding and belonging. I have seen the effect a popular writer visiting the school whith a AD/HD t-shirt has on the kids that struggle in that general direction. The pride, how their burden suddely becomes their cool.
I, of cuorse am not cool. I am a teacher. But I am well liked, and I believe I could have been an ally if not a role model if I let the kids know who I am. It would most certainly ruin my life to do so, but my life is half way done anyway. Gay children are more often beat up by their parents, more often victims of sexually abuse, their suicidecrates are horrible. How can I let the kids struggle alone as I have done?
What do you think? Is it my moral obligation to be openly gay at work in support of the gay children? Or does my responsibility end way before laying my life down for my pupils?
You can support gay students without being openly gay. You can come out as an ally to the LGBTQ community without fully coming out as gay, unless you don’t like half-measures.
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I suppose I don`t like lying much, but I`ll probably keep doing it …
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I’m not a fan of of it, but I know when it’s necessary.
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