Despite the ever-present challenges lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students face at school, a new study finds that gay teachers are actually less likely to challenge bullying in the classroom than their straight counterparts out of fear for their own jobs.
As TES Magazine reports, the study comprised interviews with more than 350 teachers and school principals over how they deal with anti-gay incidents at school. The bulk of the interviewees who identified as LGBT said that not only did they not feel safe coming out at school, but they had rarely intervened when they witnessed homophobic remarks being made.
"A lot of folks, theoretically, might be in favour of gay marriage and have liberal views,” Dr. Tiffany Wright, who conducted the interviews, is quoted by TES Magazine and Pink News as saying. “But when you’re talking about their kids, that’s a little different. Then, suddenly, people’s prejudices come out.”
Over one-third of the teachers interviewed for the survey said they were worried their jobs would be at risk if they came out to their colleagues, while 62 percent were worried about losing their jobs if they came out to their students, according to the report.
News of the survey follows the case of Carla Hale, a longtime teacher at Ohio's Bishop Watterson High School who was reportedly fired after her partner's name, Julie, was listed among the survivors in a public obituary for Hale's mother.
In February, Purcell Marian High School Assistant Principal Mike Moroski was fired by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati after endorsing gay marriage in a personal blog post, while in 2012, music teacher Al Fischer was dismissed from his job at St. Ann Catholic School in north St. Louis County, Mo., after archdiocese officials learned he was planning on marrying his longtime partner.
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