WHAT’S OLD IS NEW AGAIN.
In the spring of 1999, the Dean of Instruction who worked at the middle school in Oklahoma City where I taught, as well as at the high school across the street, had asked if I would be interested in transferring to that high school. He was impressed with my performance as a teacher.
I looked forward to high school because in my experience in other high schools in other parts of the country the students could discuss literature more maturely than in the lower grades and their essays were more interesting, and I thought it would also give me the opportunity to do some good for the Gay and Lesbian students who were more accepting of themselves or who needed to be.
With both the statement made during the previous November‘s Staff Development when we finally got the district to recognize there were Gay kids in the schools and they needed to be treated equally to the other students and what we members of the Diversity Committee had been told regarding being inclusive without the finalized policy language it had been working on, I saw no problem with quietly supplying positive information to and about Gay students and Gay people for the benefit of both the Gay students and their straight peers. I wasn‘t going to be organizing Gay Pride Parades in the hallways, or engage in any outrageous behavior, after all, but just wanted to make Gay related information naturally and equitably available.
To this end, as I did at the middle school, I had a list of famous Gay and Lesbian people throughout history and some age-appropriate books that I would place on a shelf to be discovered by students without any advertisement about their being there. They were to be discovered.
October, being National Gay and Lesbian History Month, I prepared a poster to hang on one of my classroom bulletin boards that consisted of the same four-hundred and fifty names of Gay people I had listed on a very large, oversized poster that had hung in my middle school classroom for two years. The poster listed various groups of people, from politicians, artists, and religious folk to sports and historical figures. It also contained people from many ethnic and racial groups. It was a very inclusive list that I simply hung on the first Monday in October, making no reference to it whatsoever; the words “Famous Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual People” being the only indication of what the list was.
There were no pictures of any kind on the poster, just names, and the contribution attributed to them
Knowing that for many of the students, if not all, actually seeing such a list publicly displayed with no shame or embarrassment would in all probability be a new experience, I was prepared for whatever reaction they might have, hoping, of course, that it would not be too negative. I was quite pleased and proud of their reaction as it went from a small degree of shock and a little laughter the first day, to calling friends in between classes on the second day to see “The Poster”, and finally by the third day looking at it like any other piece of information that a teacher might hang in a classroom. They were mature about it for the most part.
It had been hanging for a week when a student with notoriously poor attendance finally came to class and was not pleased with the poster. The student reported to a vice principal that she was offended on religious grounds by my Homosexual Poster, The matter was referred to the Dean of Instruction, as he was the one that was to evaluate my teaching performance.
Out of 1400 students, 150 being in my classes, this was the only complaint.
On the Friday of the first week of Gay History Month I received a note from the Dean of instruction suggesting I remove the poster before the end of day.
I chose not to.
The following Mon day, after the Dean walked through my classroom, in the front door and out the back, without looking at or reading the poster he saw for the first time, I was called to a meeting at the end of the day.
Since I had not only worked with the Dean at the middle school, but he was the one who had pursued my transfer to the high school, we were on friendly terms. At that meeting he admitted he was aware that I had had a similar poster in my middle school classroom and was aware of my work with the district in advocating to get the Gay students openly included in district policies on bullying, harassment, and nondiscrimination, but he had been told to deal with the complaint, and so he was doing just that.
I explained that October was Gay and Lesbian History Month; that it was important for the students to see during this month that there were many Gay people who had made major contributions to western civilization just as it was important for other groups during other designated months like Black History Month, or Hispanic Heritage Month, to see what their people had contributed; and that Gay students see that there were actually positive role-models for them. My confidence was bolstered by my involvement on the district’s Diversity Committees, which was formed after a year of my insisting on a revision of policies was necessary, and that committee chair‘s advice regarding the inclusive spirit of the policy as opposed actual language.
He may have acknowledged that these were lofty goals, but his concern was that I could not justify the poster on the grounds of multiculturalism as the various cultures were not represented; only Gay people were. His argument smacked of the erroneous belief that “Gay” was a white man’s thing, and revealed that he had not bothered to actually read the list, or the names of Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Native-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans would have been noticed.
His suggestion for remedying the situation was for me to go out that night and expend my own time, energy, and funds on purchasing posters that represented all minority groups, something my poster already did. I asked if I would be required to do the same when I acknowledged the months set aside for other groups such as Black History Month, or Hispanic Heritage Month, and if he or the person who objected to the poster would be willing to give me the funds to oblige this suggestion. My poster, after all, was already inclusive, so this would be an extra, unnecessary expense. I also let him know I could not follow his suggestion because I was attending the “Stop the Hate Rally” that was taking place that evening at the Myriad Gardens in downtown Oklahoma City, the irony of which to me was just short of pointed.
He then suggested that in the future I seek permission from an administrator before posting anything that someone might consider controversial. As I did not see information natural to Gay people to be controversial, I did not see how I, or any teacher for that matter, could anticipate what an individual might perceive as, or choose to call, controversial.
Giving the situation a lot of thought over the weekend, I concluded that to take down the poster would not only be a negative message to Gay students and their straight peers as well, but it would go against what I had been trying to do with the district and would legitimize the complaint of one student. And, as I was following the spirit of the Diversity policy that the committee had been working on, the feelings of the members of that committee, and the explanation of the chair when asked what we should do in light of the absence of our final proposal and wording, I saw my actions as being supported by the district and its policies.
And so it was on that Monday morning as he passed through my room that I gave a letter to the Dean stating that I would not follow his suggestion to remove the poster because it would not be in the best interest of the Gay Students or their peers; it contained people of all ethnic and racial groups; and that the student who allegedly complained was from the majority religion, race, and sexual orientation who had many outlets at her disposal including Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bible study groups, and a host of heterosexual related school sponsored activities. I went further to point out the uniqueness of the treatment of this poster as teachers did not have to have planned posters reviewed by administrators, and many classrooms featured posters not directly related to the curriculum. My poster served a valuable purpose.
There was another meeting held after the principal and an assistant had gone to my classroom at night to remove anything “Gay” and in doing this, between what was taken and what was left, it was obvious that these people were dealing with stereotypes as anything with a rainbow on it was removed, and, although the books I had on a shelf next to my desk had been rifled through and haphazardly replaced, the substantive and educational information for, about, and by Gay students were left in place. I guess with no nudes in the book, they were not considered Gay.
At this meeting, after the obligatory introduction and politeness, I was handed a reprimand that contained two sections, read it, signed it, and left.
The first part of the reprimand charged me with willful neglect of duty and failure to follow a directive. The one complaint was now referred to as “complaints”, and the one student had become “some”. Also, I was accused of not following a directive as I had been “requested” to remove the poster but had not followed the “directive”. I was warned that any future failure to follow directives could result in loss of employment.
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1) Willful neglect of duty and failure to follow you supervisor’s directive: On Friday, October 8 1999, I discussed with you some student complaints concerning a handwritten poster posted in your classroom. The poster lists the names of various homosexual athletes, writer and professionals. As I discussed with you, some of the students had complained about the poster and found it offensive. I requested that you remove the poster before the start of class on Monday, October 11, 1999. Instead of complying with my directive, on Monday, you submitted to me a written response indicating that you would not remove the poster. You were also advised to remove the poster at our October 7, 1999 conference.”
The second part was based on “instructional ineffectiveness”. Among the charges that were the basis of this were that my intention to help the self-esteem of my Gay students was noble, but their self-esteem was not a teacher’s concern; I did not recognize the interests of my “other” students; I did not include people of various ethnic and racial groups on the list, which was a violation of my syllabus; the list was not curriculum specific; and I did not represent the other side of this controversial topic. My approach, in short, was not balanced. Again, there was a threat to employment.
This section was rather insulting to me and to all Gay and Lesbian people
“2) Instructional ineffectiveness: You indicated in your written response dated October 11, 1999 that your intent with the poster is to provide Gay and Lesbian students with information to see their own self-worth. Although this may be a noble pursuit, it is not part of your teaching responsibilities and fails to recognize the interests and concerns of your other students. You also claim that the poster is connected to the multi-cultural literature course because the students in that course will study some of the authors listed. However, the approach you are taking is to promote only one side or position and is not a balanced approach that provides information to students about authors who are African American, Native American, Hispanic American or Asian American writers as required by the course syllabus. Further, the poster lists persons who are not authors and will not be studied in your class. Thus, your actions fail to provide a balanced pedagogical approach to the subject of multicultural literature. In order to be an effective teacher, it is necessary to provide students with varied viewpoints and a well-balanced approach to controversial subjects.”
The reprimand that would prove to have been written with input from an attorney used by administrators when they wanted to write something like this, stated that the self-esteem of the Gay students was not my responsibility, yet teachers were constantly given in-services on student self-esteem, and were made aware that that was one of their concerns. Did this mean only the self-esteem of straight students was a responsibility?
Not recognizing the interests of my other students obviously translated to not recognizing the interests of my heterosexual students at all times, and my Gay ones never, or in their properly assigned place. Yet, this was a school that had Homecoming Queen, Best Couple contests, various religious and ethnic clubs, Fellowship of Christian athletes, Campus for Christ, morning Bible study, on and on. But, one poster during Gay History Month with the list of positive role models was too much.
The list was deemed not multi-cultural, in spite of including Native-Americans, African-American, Asian-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. Thus, it allegedly violated my syllabus. A point made more interesting by my not as yet having presented my syllabus to the dean that he had requested at one meeting and only did so three days after receiving this reprimand.
The list may not have contained people who were specific only to my the curriculum, but there were lots of classrooms where teachers for decoration or self-esteem building hung posters that featured people or characters not directly related to the subject matter: Martin Luther King Jr. in science classes, Snoopy extolling the virtues of having a nice day, a list of famous historical women in an English class to present young women with positive role models, and so on.
I allegedly did not present a well-balanced approach as I did not provide students with varied viewpoints or the other side of the controversial issue.
First, I did not see this information as controversial, but, rather, informative. In the Bible-Belt, anti-Gay rhetoric is constant without the requirement to present the opposing view. Would this mean that with any topic presented, the teacher must present the opposing view resulting in a Klan display during Black History month?
The long and short of this section of the reprimand came down to the simple premise that any positive information about Gay people was too much information, and that in spite of all the heterosexual school sponsored activities and the constant promotion of the Christian-Heterosexual Ideal, one positive mention of Gay people constituted a threat to that and would be able to wipe it out completely. Although flattered, I do not see us as a people having that great a power.
I filed a Grievance, and thus began an adventure that resulted in the words “Sexual Orientation” and, having been included as time made the needs of Transgender students just as important as cis-gender ones, “Gender Identity” in school district policies, and, eight years after this inclusion, the district’s participation in the annual Gay Pride Parade with signs declaring the district cares about all its students.
This gives me hope for Texas. As soon as the old guard with its mythical understanding of the state and its history, one that does not match reality, move on, perhaps more educated and forward-thinking people will finally get Texas to where parts of Oklahoma have already arrived.
The fight may be long and tiring, but if not given up, even Texas might be dragged into the modern world.
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