Would you mind if your school's head teacher was gay?

[seeker]

Someone started a thread on this topic a few days ago, and I was delighted at the tolerant attitudes shown. However, the thread's title didn't really say what it was about, so I'm not sure the OP got a full range of opinions. So I thought I'd try this and see what happens. Sorry to hijack your discusion, linney!

No, absolutely not, I would be pleased for my DCs to have a positive gay role-model.

agree that a thread on mn is unlikely to be representative of teh country as a whole

YES

No!

God no

Not really. Why would anybody mind? Though,saying that, I know a VP who is gay and it isn't common knowledge. His Dad hasn't spoken to him for 4 years

i dont know if my dh would mind. he is not a very tolerant person at times but im not sure if this is just to wind me up.

i have a friend who is gay and dh doesnt mind him spending time with our dcs. its never been brought up by either of us as to it being a problem.

i also dont think you will get a range of responses that would represent the whole countries view correctly and i sometimes wonder if people on here just go along with/ignore threads for fear of being ridiculed if they disagree. i mean really if you did disagree and said so you would get flame wouldnt you?

I'd be more concerned about the running of the school than private life of the head What would there be to be concerned about?

What a strange question. Can anyone explain on what grounds somebody might object to their headmaster/ headmistress being gay?

you might be delighted at the tolerant attitudes but please think about the effect these thread titles have on gay mumsnetters.
'Would you mind if your child's teacher was black?'
Does this seem like an acceptable question to you?

My partner is a teacher and faces homophobia everyday of her working life.

So do none of you have to mix, even sometimes, with otherwise quite pleasant seeming people who make juvenile/joky remarks about the sexuality of third parties?
I can see how some teachers and other people in a public service role would be very concerned about being out, tbh.
Little digs in the staffroom or at the school gates about "such a shame he never found the right woman", "he's what you might call a confirmed bachelor" "I see Bunty's forgot her monocle today" - it doesn't have to be baying for blood or pitchfork rabbles for it to be deeply offensive and upsetting to deal with.
I think it is great that we are all so "why on earth should it matter" here on Mn and in our own RLs, but I think there is a lot more subtle homophobia out there than we are acknowledging

Gooseyloosey - does that mean you wouldn't like him to bring his partner to a school event?

No, none of my business.

If people do mind then they have a very narrow bigotted view of the world.

Marina, I know exactly what you mean.

My dh has a good friend who is gay - and he still makes the odd little 'joke' about gay people. I just don't understand it.

Not in the slightest.

Incidentally, what would we (the "no"s) do if we found that other parents minded - ie, enough of them for there to be an issue, not just a non-influential minority?

I have heard people say that people who are gay shouldn't be around children. Erm it's adults of the same sex they like. It's like men who do the 'oh keep your back against the wall' crap, they aren't being jumped on constantly by woman so why would men want too?

TBH I find the idea of 'tolerant attitudes' a bit cringeworthy. I would be offended if I thought someone was 'tolerating' me. I'm sure that's not what you meant though seeker.

No.

What's to mind ?

No Seeker - not at all. The only concern that I have is that I know a very small number of gay people who define themselves by their sexuality - it pervades everything and most conversations contain references to it. I would not consider that this was appropriate in a school.

Normal social interaction with a gay partner and normal discussion of home life would be just fine by me and would be a positive thing in my view.

charliegal - I didn't mean my thread title to be offensive - I'm sorry if it is, but I don't understand why.

no

"I see Bunty's forgot her monocle today" ha ha ..which school are we talking about here? Is that the staff or the kids? There will always be comments in a school environment, whether it's an unusual name, an affliction, or plain nothing at all, shouldn't deter people from working in a profession should it?

Sorry about "tolerant". I should have said that I was expecting more intolerance. Is that better - or worse?

Our headmaster is, I think, and I haven't heard any negative comments. Just the normal playground gossip about whether he's got a partner etc.

In answer to Marina's question, I expect there would be parents at our school who would mind but quite honestly if "seemingly quite pleasant people" come out with such comments I'd probably challenge it then and also not bother talking to them again. They'd be crossed off my "quite pleasant people" list.