Gay teaching

“I make sure that I mention these people in an organic way…I seamlessly loop them in and normalize it so it’s not a thing, it’s just part of what we talk about,” she said. As part of this study, we wanted to understand how elementary educators were doing this work. And unless we can acknowledge the pain that they go through, we’re not going to solve it.

What they understand is, “My existence is a threat. He receives the most backlash from parents in the community who do not have students in their class, he said, as well as vitriolic attacks from conservatives online. I was the first to go to college. In most states, teachers are only required to inform parents if the student expresses thoughts of experiencing violence or harming themselves or others.

They gave me shoes [they bought with] their personal money. Chang, she/her, 50, Atlanta, GA

Every year, at the start of school, Jere Chang (TikTok @mschanggifted) gets the same question, without fail. The politics do not support acknowledging the pain that they go through. Only 45% of kindergarten teachers said they’d be comfortable, compared to 64% of 5th-grade teachers, whereas 80% of secondary teachers were comfortable with the topic.

Elementary educators were also less likely to report participating in GSD-inclusive efforts at their schools than secondary educators (22% vs.

And then what are my students seeing? My existence is somehow immoral.”

This year, I was told twice by administrators, “nothing racial.” As if that means something. Now you’re in a conundrum when a student says, “Hey, that Amanda Gorman poem was beautiful.” And you have to say, “Well, when we read it—and we’re going to read it—we’re going to have backlash because she is a Black woman talking about unity.

I’ve been openly gay. She highlights Black and brown scientists when teaching her second-graders about space. Do I think for a second this accolade would’ve come if it first had to pass through even my building? In America for some reason right now, a Black woman speaking is a bad thing.

I don’t think anyone in Florida knows what “age appropriate” means. “I feel like if they don’t have that sort of connection with me, the likelihood they are going to learn something from me is slim to none.”

Petrin takes conscious steps to ensure all her students feel accepted. The effect that this has in real time on the classroom is immediate.