An elementary school teacher decided to tell his students that he is gay as part of anti-bullying week. When he asked his class what they knew about gay people, almost everyone thought gays and lesbians were bad or evil in some way. This was particularly shocking for the teacher to find out, so he decided to have a conversation with the principal of the school. It was decided that it would be in the class’s best interest for them to know at least one gay person, and hopefully, this in turn, would shape their behavior growing up.
The teacher, who will go by the name Mr. R for purposes of this story, said the reasoning behind this was:
If they thought bad about gay people, that would be the same thing as them thinking bad about me.
Mr. R hesitated letting his students know he was gay previously due to their young age, and as a general practice, had been very cautious on mentioning anything about his sexuality even though his colleagues had regularly talked about their partners in the classroom.
The reaction from the class included a lot of gasps and shocked looks, as well as a plethora of questions, such as, “Do you have a boyfriend?” but after a couple minutes the class quieted down and they moved on to the rest of the lesson.
What Mr. R received the following day, however, was a letter from a 9-year-old girl, and it has circulated around the globe in a very short period of time.
Letter to her gay teacher. Pic via Pink News
“Dear Mr. R,” the 9-year-old girl’s letter starts out:
Even though you’re gay, I will always treat you the same way as I do now. I still think about you the same way as I used to. You’re a great teacher and these are just some of the word’s that I would describe you as: great, amazing, fantastic, brilliant, awesome and brave.
The reason why I say brave is because you shared a personal secret which was very brave.
You don’t have to feel scared because I know that everyone in the class feels the same way as I do.
From A
P.S. Mr. R., We are proud of you.
This brought the teacher to tears, he would later tell Pink News.
Now, he is no longer afraid to speak about his fiancee, or who he really is on the inside. Perhaps the best thing of all, though, he said was:
There was no judgment, no follow-up, just acceptance.
H/T: 9-year-old girl’s letter to her gay teacher | Featured Image: Advocate
It’s not always parents. I think often it’s just society, even if it’s unintentional. Just typing this comment, I see 3 “You may also like” video links that each have negative connotations towards gays, “…app that includes shooting homosexuals…”, “…uploader labels her a lesbian…”, and “…final solution to ‘homo’ ‘pedophiles’: mass extermination”. All 3 are against the belief that gay people are evil, but young kids can easily take things out of context or not comprehend the actual meaning.
Even a news article talking about protests against Westboro Baptist Church almost always has a big colorful picture of a WBC member holding a vivid sign saying God Hates F*gs or something similar. Young kids are going to quickly focus on that sign, even though the sign shows the hatred that is counter to what the article is about. They see God hates this group of people…God hates evil…This group of people is evil.
As a gay Muslim, I am deeply moved.
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