Gay teacher and student
‘I’m Afraid to Return to the Classroom': A Same-sex attracted Teacher of the Year Speaks Out
Willie Edward Taylor Carver, Jr., was named the Kentucky Teacher of the Year and was honored at the Colorless House this spring. But despite the accolades, he may not return to the classroom next drop.
Carver, who teaches elevated school and college-level French and English at Montgomery County High School in Mount Sterling, Ky., is on sabbatical this institution year and is questioning his future as a teacher given the spate of anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. He spoke to Education Week about teaching as a male lover 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. School was a place where we could eat. Having so many issues with violence, cling, poverty, hopelessness—school was not that. School was a place of light and hope. My teachers not only expanded my earth, but they injected it with light and devote. They gave me shoes [they bought with] their personal money.
I hold about 100 first cousins. I was th
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 student 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 New Jersey.”
A pupil of mine asked me very pointedly, “What does ‘in-laws’ mean?” I explained that if you possess 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 name 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 identify of my wife was. So we went help and forth, back and forth.
“What’s your wife’s name?”
“I don’t have a wife, I have a spouse.”
“What’s your wife – you said spouse. Well, that’s the same thing as a wife.”
Eventually I disoriented patience and I said, “He is my spouse and he is not my wife.” The
Jacob Knight was known as one of the go-to teachers at Brentwood Elementary, especially for students who had experienced trauma or felt like they didn’t belong. Knight, who taught fifth grade, was so popular that parents specifically angled to get their children placed in his classroom.
Spencer Brower requested to have his 11-year-old daughter, Keleah, placed in Knight’s class. “As parents, we loved Mr. Knight,” Brower told RANGE. “He created an environment, for at least our daughter, that was safe and secure, but also held kids responsible and accountable for developing and learning on their own.”
Knight’s fellow teachers recommended him too. Brower knew to request Knight for Keleah because her fourth-grade teacher thought she would thrive under Knight’s instruction.
Keleah, who spoke with RANGE over the smartphone with her dad introduce, said she struggles with anxiety and that she felt comfortable in Knight’s class because when she was stressed about something, he always found a way to take her mind off of it.
“One time there was going to be a heat drill,” Keleah said. “And he could tell I was getting very nervous, [so] he brought up some stickers, and me and my best fr
nakedfrog said:
I'm really starting to wonder if these sorts of people can't help but think about gay sex every period they think about same-sex attracted people, and thus take for granted that it's that way for everyone.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is exactly correct. In fact, words like "homosexual" and "gay" were not in large use until these past 50 years. In mature times, they referred to gays as "sodomites" or "perverts." There were no "homosexuals" in those days. Just straight people with weird perversions like having sex with people of the same sex.
I once wrote a law review article on Justice Scalia's dissent in Romer v Evans, a case scrutinizing the Constitutionality of Colorado's law which banned all anti-discrimination laws protecting homosexuals. Scalia's dissent was essentially this exact thing: the people discriminating are in their rights to punish behavior, he said. This has nothing to accomplish with someone's status, he also said. No one is punishing someone for who they are, according to him, only for what they do.
It's compassionate of weird that people's lewd tendency to only think about gay se
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