Gay teacher

Perhaps you could arrange for someone else or a group of other people with a decent reason to bring it up to do so. Preferably someone or a group of people well known or respected in the community, and if you don't want to out yourself to them you could subtly work them in that direction.

 

I can relate, I am in the teacher prep program myself. I am also a math tutor at my college. My coworkers ask me all the time, "so when are you getting a girl friend". Hopefully things gets better. At least in my city, we are liberal; it's Vegas.

 

My partner is a school teacher- we like to say he is out but doesn't wear a rainbow tie to work! But we also live in NY which is a little more liberal than Ohio (I would think).
If its a public school and you are a member of a teachers union, I would approach your union -maybe not the local rep but some at the state level to find out what the rules are/ how it's been handled in the past. You can be the only gay teacher in the district/ state!
Good luck

 

The sucky part about this whole thing is that its very hard to do anything while you are in the closet. A letter is easily ignored and an LGBT group won't be able to do much if they don't have a reason as to why they are helping.

Changing school policy is one of the hardest things to do, but its not impossible. There are organizations like GLSEN and other local organizations that deal with schools and might be able to give you some sort of support or resources.

Also, try to find other LGBT teachers and learn from them. I know that in my school we had 3 LGBT teachers who weren't out, but also weren't in the closet. They were able to find a balance where most people could guess, but they wouldn't say it to you outright.

Maybe that's something that you can do?

 

If this is a public school then chances are that it shouldn't be a problem.

Can you get a copy of a new teacher application? Usually an application will have a disclaimer that says "we do not discriminate against any race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, etc..." That disclaimer doesn't mean that it can't happen, they just use other excuses. Once you are hired and have tenure though, it would be a lot tougher to get the axe. I'd recommend that you always dot your I's and cross your T's when it comes to any contact with male students just to be safe though. This is only a problem for people that instantly think that gay equals pedophile. I don't want to scare you but I had a high school teacher that was thought to be gay and the personal contact got him canned. A hand on the shoulder of a kid that is out to get you can be a really big problem. This was probably about 12 years ago so tolerance in people has changed since then.

I live in a very rural place also and I can tell you from experience that it is getting easier and more accepting everywhere. I'm not putting on rose colored glasses and think all is safe but you might be surprised how accepting people can be.

If you love teaching and do it as well as you say you do, go to work, do your job and you won't have any problems. When people ask about girls, just say you aren't interested and you don't really feel comfortable talking about your personal life a work. People will see you out and rumors will probably start, as long as you are comfortable with who you are, then it shouldn't be a problem for you.

 

This post makes me glad I went to school in London , I had openly gay teachers growing up as far as I am aware no parents ever complained and if they did it had to effect what so ever, I get some may think that pupils don't need to know about the personal lives of there teachers but I know for me and other questioning pupils at the time having gay teachers made us feel more normal and no one got bullied for the sexuality around the gay teachers which was pretty cool, I wish all other schools where like that

 

Yah, I'm pretty sure you can sue them if they fire you based on your orientation. But if they are that barbaric, they will find other ways to get rid of you. Personally, I would just come out to whoever asks next. "Did you find a girlfriend?" No, because I'm gay and taken. Boom done. Then if word spread, then word spreads. What are they gonna do?

Here in California, there's a similar issue, only the school is religious. A homosexual teacher was openly gay at the school. Students knew it, staff knew it, and they even knew he had a partner. But once he got married and his wedding tape was viewed, he was fired. How does that make sense? It doesn't.

 

I feel for you. You like your job.

As for the logistics, look at the wording in employment contracts for your district. Look at the civil protections the state of Ohio affords. Every state and employer is different. Sometimes, you can find charts on the internet showing how the various states compare for civil protections. Proceed from there.

You might get acceptance from the administration and fellow teachers, but those people with archaic views will still exist. There may be less of them as time goes on, but as long as we have people towing strict lines of their religions, they'll be causing people grief. As you know, it's often better in big cities.

 

You want to tell them that if Jesus hates gays so much, get the bible out and prove it. Its all bull shit at the end of the day. No religious text says that you cannot be gay. Some say about wasting sperm etc. But it doesn't specify who you can and cannot love. If god made us all, he made some of us gay too.

 

I feel for you. Discrimination is wrong.

 

I think you can be open about your life and reference your partner, without making a big deal out of it. After all, straight teachers reference their partners. I believe this to be your right. Your sexuality is not something students, parents of students or colleagues need to even think about; with that said, if they choose to make a big deal out of it, that is on them. Also, I don't think being "out" is making a political statement. You are a human being and your existence and sexuality is not a political statement.


Also, if you decide to be "out," I think this could benefit your gay students, as you mentioned. I really wish I would have had a gay teacher because young people, especially in rural areas, tend to think they're the "only" one. Again, you don't need to go into deep discussion about it or make anything political out about it, your simple openness could really help certain gay students, even though you may never know it.

Our work lives are HUGE parts of our lives and we spend a lot of time in that environment and I know it can be difficult to hide such large aspects of ourselves. If you hide it, it may lead to repression, isolation in the workplace and depression. But also, there are many people who decide work is strictly work and are not open about their personal lives--I just find this approach difficult because how do answer colleagues when they ask, "What did you do over the weekend?" "Do you have a family?" "What did you do on vacation?" It is difficult to completely omit the existence of your partner when engaging in conversations such as these. Also, it can lead to issues such as you feeling bad for not including your partner in conversations, almost denying the relationship.

My 2 cents

 

If you trust them, ask your union rep. They should have some idea.