Gay teacher and students
‘I’m Afraid to Restore to the Classroom': A Gay Instructor of the Year Speaks Out
Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr., was named the Kentucky Teacher of the Year and was honored at the White Property this spring. But despite the accolades, he may not return to the classroom next collapse.
Carver, who teaches high school and college-level French and English at Montgomery County High Institution in Mount Sterling, Ky., is on sabbatical this university year and is questioning his future as a educator given the spate of anti-LGBTQ legislation across the land. He spoke to Education Week about teaching as a gay man in rural Kentucky—and why recent efforts to restrict rights for LGBTQ students are dangerous. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
I grew up Appalachian. There were moments of extreme poverty: no electricity, no running water. Educational facility was a place where we could eat. Having so many issues with violence, dependency, poverty, hopelessness—school was not that. School was a place of light and desire. My teachers not only expanded my world, but they injected it with light and care for. They gave me shoes [they bought with] their personal money.
I acquire about 100 first cousins. I was th
Every gay teacher should read this article
I am writing this piece anonymously because I wish to protect the individuality of my institution and students, rather than myself. I hope one night anonymising won’t be necessary.
As a same-sex attracted member of the senior leadership team, I am often asked to talk with less experienced teachers who are worried that their sexuality will get an issue in the classroom. Sadly, as gay teachers, we often grasp to expect the usual slurs and side-glances upon first meeting students.
And it is absolutely incorrect. If it were to happen in the street or a professional serve place, we would likely file an official complaint and expect things to change as a result.
But in university, the difference is that we are there to inform our students and we accept that they do not arrive on date one as the perfect citizen, open-minded and courteous. I am a qualified English teacher, but if the only thing I actually taught was English I would examine myself a destitute educator.
We also instruct life-skills, manners, resilience, confidence, self-belief – the list is endless. We are role-models, whether the students want us to be or not. So how do we instruct them that creature homosexual is of
I’m Matthew Hay. I’m from Annapolis, Maryland.
One day, a week or so after the holidays, I had asked my group of fifth grade students in my music class how they had spent their winter break. Kids went down the row saying what types of gifts they had and which relatives they’d seen.
At the end, a pupil had asked me, “Mr. Hay, what did you do?”
I had answered, in the best of my ability, without revealing too much, “Well, I went to my in-laws and I spent some time in northern Novel Jersey.”
A student of mine asked me very pointedly, “What does ‘in-laws’ mean?” I explained that if you have in-laws, that means that you’re married and it’s the family of the person you’re married to.
She asked me, “What is the identify of your wife?” I told her that I have a spouse and then I tried to move on, which I do many times. But she was feeling very insistent this particular day on figuring out what the name of my wife was. So we went back and forth, back and forth.
“What’s your wife’s name?”
“I don’t have a wife, I acquire a spouse.”
“What’s your wife – you said spouse. Well, that’s the same thing as a wife.”
Eventually I lost patience and I said, “He is my spouse and he is not my wife.” The
I'm a gay teacher. You can tell us not to say 'gay,' but we'll find each other — even in school.
In middle school, I had a Spanish teacher who was young and warm, and I probably had a crush on her, though I couldn't contain articulated that at the time.
One afternoon, she was describing a night out at a club in which she had seen two women dancing with each other. This bothered her, she said, even more than she consideration it would. She didn't use the word "disgust," but she didn't possess to.
As my classmates nodded agreeably, urging her to go on, I bored a hole in my desk with my eyes as heat rose to my face, my body coiling protectively inward in a futile attempt to disappear. I had a secret that I couldn't quite name yet. Even while entertaining us with the story, my Spanish teacher never said the word "gay."
As an individual, and a teacher myself, I know that homosexual kids will find themselves and each other despite any books or synonyms bans imposed by less understanding adults. I'm also here for them to feel protected and seen.
Coming out was liberating for me
In spite of the lack of education I received, I soon managed to fall in all-consuming, obsessiv