DiscussionTeacher asked to remove Pride Flag from his classroom and resigns instead. Story posted by a GC account. Comments praise it. Keep noticing subtle homophobia from some of these accounts.

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[–]julesburm1891 29 insightful - 1 fun29 insightful - 0 fun30 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

  1. As a native Missourian, I can assure you that the teacher insisting on hanging a pride flag in Neosho is an attention stunt. (It is probably the most conservative town in a very conservative state. They tried to auction off an AR-15 at a back-to-school event a couple of years ago, if that tells you anything.) Hanging the flag there is on par with being in Portland and hanging an “All Lives Matter” sign in a classroom. You know what you’re doing and what the reaction will be. Don’t play dumb.

  2. This may be unpopular, but I agree that the pride flag doesn’t have a place in schools. Hear me out. With both TQ+ crazy and shitty LGB activism over the past decade, the flag (unfortunately) doesn’t just mean gay pride anymore. It’s taken on a political connotation in American society because it’s now everywhere at every left-wing event. Even if the teacher had completely pure intentions, I understand how parents, administration, and students could look at it as see “ACAB,” “yay liberals,” “America sucks,” and/or a bunch of SJW lunacy instead of seeing “it’s okay to be gay.” The fact that our flag has been hijacked for a political prop makes me see red. As mad as I am, I do feel like something that’s taken on political meaning doesn’t belong in a classroom. We should keep things as neutral as possible to create a space conducive for everyone to learn.

  3. All that being said, I’m not 100% certain I’m in agreement with a pride flag (in its pure meaning) in a school at all. Should teachers be able to be open about their sexual orientation? Yes. Should teachers be able to discuss homosexuality and bisexuality as a fact of nature? Yes. Should teachers be able to display a pride flag for a sexual orientation? Eh, not sure.

  4. I do agree that there’s some homophobia in the GC movement. Someone (u/MarkJefferson, I think) mentioned here the other day that he thought a lot of “allies” never understood SSA and really just think of it as a fetish. I’ve been thinking about that pretty much ever since and I think he’s hit the nail on the head. There are loads LGB GC people (myself included) and tons of awesome straight GC people. However, I have noticed there are definitely some GC people who seem to quietly think of us as just another fetish and are just content with using us as a pawn in their personal gripes with the trans community. That is incredibly frustrating because we’re already stuck between religious conservatives and liberal homophobes. We don’t need more bullshit homophobia at all, but certainly not in one of the few spaces we’ve left to assert our sexual orientations.

  5. Tangentially related: when I type “pride flag” my keyboard auto recommends the trans flag emoji to me. That’s weird as hell because I have never used that emoji. I have to type “gay pride” to get the rainbow emoji to appear. Is that happening for anyone else?

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

To what you bring up in points 2 and 3, I would say the only time it would *maybe* be appropriate is if he were teaching a health and sexuality class - or possibly a history class, but it would have to be a very specific type of curriculum. As an educator, his own personal sexuality and relationships shouldn't matter unless he had a relevant issue to teach (such as being an activist, or learning acceptable intimate boundaries), but even that's a stretch. Work life and personal life need to be separate, or it risks becoming a legal nightmare.

Article: https://archive.ph/mU7vt

He's a DRAMA teacher. He's completely out of bounds here.

I do sorta feel for him though, I don't get the impression he meant anything bad by displaying the flag, I think he probably had good intentions on the surface. But he's young and indoctrinated, and doesn't know how to be a professional. As evidenced by:

"It appears that there is a different set of rules if you are an LGBTQ+ educator," Wallis wrote on Twitter. "Neosho has no mention of gender identity or sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy, and that is disconcerting enough. Couple that with a policy banning anything that expresses part of me in the classroom, and it makes for a hostile work environment."

He's grasping at concepts he doesn't even understand yet, and is digging himself into a negative employment hole he may not ever be able to climb out of.

[–]JulienMayfair 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

He's a DRAMA teacher. He's completely out of bounds here.

I've studied and taught drama on the literary side. The thing is, there are plenty of ways that sexuality comes into the topic without your having to bring it in via your personal life. Several of the most well-known playwrights of the 20th C. were gay, like Tennessee Williams and Tony Kushner, just to name a couple, and there has long been a gay community tied to the professional theater. You hardly need to bring it in via your personal life as a teacher. It's already there in the material. You just have to teach it honestly.