As part of a week-long program that looked to educated kids about bullying, one teacher decided to come out to his class, and received a touching letter from one of his students in response.
The teacher, whose name was hidden from the letter and remained anonymous after posting it online with Pink News, was giving a lesson on why bullying was wrong when he asked his class how many people had heard the word 'gay' being used to bully people, which most of them had. He then asked if they thought that gay people were bad or wrong in some way.
The majority of the class put their hands in the air, and having discussed it with the principal, he then explained that he was gay and when people used that word they were talking about him. He said that the class had a few basic questions, but "but after a couple of minutes they were over it and we moved on to the rest of the lesson".
A few days later, one of his students handed him a letter that she'd written to tell him what she though of his decision to come out to the class.
The letter reads as follows:
Dear Mr R
Even though you’re gay, I will always treat you the same way as I do now. I still think about you the same way as I used to. You’re a great teacher and these are just some of the word’s [sic] that I would describe you as: great, amazing, fantastic, brilliant, awesome and brave.
The reason why I say brave is because you shared a personal secret which was very brave.
You don’t have to feel scared because I know that everone [sic] in the class feels the same way as I do.
From A x x
PS. We are all proud of you
He said that reading it brought tears to his eyes, and he had to take a minute to compose himself, but that he would be keeping this particular letter forever.
Via Pink News, Independent. Main pic via Joanne Johnson/Flickr
