Hello, I am debating on telling my coworkers that I'm gay. I am a teacher. There are openly gay teachers (to the staff not students; the students just know about some of them) at the school. The group of teachers I am planning on telling is my close group of coworkers. When we hang out, they talk about their life but I always have to be reserved. I am also tired of having them try to set me up with their female friends. What do you think?
Work is sort of my final frontier as far as being out. I'm out to some (I've told personally), others I think have heard from others I am. But at work, I also try and keep my private life private. I know a number of gay teachers, some are out to their coworkers, some aren't. The thing is, when you shy away from ever mentioning your personal life, I've learned a lot of people tend to assume you're gay. I've heard this from multiple people in my life, especially before coming out "you never talked about your personal life, especially not girls, so we just kind of assumed you were gay and figured you'd tell us on your time." If you did come out to your fellow teachers and support staff, would you want your students to know? Also, what grade do you teach?
I teach at the middle school level. I would not want my students to know just to avoid any drama. The other day I did tell them that I went through a break up and they just assumed it was a girl....I did not correct them.
It's a difficult predicament to be in. I volunteer a lot at schools and it can be difficult determining who to tell and who not to. I tend to keep my personal life to myself when in the classroom. It's tough, because on the one hand you want students to be able to put a face to LGBT topics, and you can be an important role model for LGBT kids in the school. On the other hand, it can be easy to become the target of bullying by students, and it enables students to pry into your personal life.
I have thought of this too. I would have loved to have had a gay teacher as a kid because I would be able to see a successful gay person. As a kid I dint know any gay adults, I felt alone. That is one of the reasons I would be Ok with the students knowing BUT there is a lot of politics in education. I feel I should tell my coworkers that I'm gay once I'm ok with it spreading like wildfire (assuming the worse).
I am out at work. As far as I am aware, there are only a few other people whom are out where I work, and they are in different locations. No issues from those in my office whom I interact with daily.
