Diversity week-do my dc need to know they're teachers ' sexuality?

[SistemaAddict]

Dd has been sent a video for the school diversity week. Teachers hold up pieces of paper with something about them written on it e.g. Gay and Proud, curly hair, Jamaican etc to give 3 examples. The information before the video states:

"...please watch the staff video to get a sense of how diverse our school is. We have such a range of different personalities, hair colour, opinions, genders, sexualities, religions, beliefs and colours that our school is a rich, welcoming diverse pot..."

I struggle to see how it's anyone's business what sexuality you are especially for a child to know that of their teacher. Surely sexuality is a private matter and not one to share with students? The video shows one teacher with a piece of paper saying gay and proud. They are not the only gay teacher in the school so it makes me wonder why they chose to say this about themselves but the other teachers chose something else about themselves. Another teacher declaring they have bipolar which seems something else that is not something to share with students. I get that they might be sharing so that students feel they have something in common with their teachers but it doesn't sit comfortably with me.

I mean, if a teacher mentions their husband or wife they're technically "sharing their sexuality". Someone being gay is no more sexual than someone being straight, it's just who they are.
Do the kids need to know? Eh, I'm on the fence. It's easy to "other" people when you don't know them, so I think what the school is going for is that kids like their teachers so when they hear someone say "Gay people are all X" they can think "Well my teacher is gay and they're not X".

I remember being a kid and hearing adults say that gay people would "confuse" kids but I always thought that was stupid because my aunt is gay and she never confused me.

I'd be less likely to mention bipolar disorder if I were them, because there is still a lot of stigma.

Nah I think it's fine - and very good point, when you refer to your husband or wife you're sharing your sexuality aren't you?

Also could be really helpful for any kids who are still in the closet and wanted someone to talk to, I would imagine?

I think I'd like reassurance that everyone participating is fine with what's being shared.

Its hugely different if I volunteer some information about myself than some overpromoted member of the SLT starts handing out roles - "Mary, you're on anti-depressants, you'll do for mental health, Geoff you used to live with Steve so you can be the gay one, Cathy your mum delivered leaflets for the Jehovah's, could you be our weirdy religion person?"

Xanthan

Imagine this. A school has only straight teachers and as a result of these declarations the kids understand that 100% of their teachers are straight. Is this a good thing? I don't think so.

To deal with this the school set out to recruit some homosexual teachers so the declarations to the kids are less problematic. Is this a good thing? I don't think so.

Declarations of sexuality in school by teachers is a bad idea.

I can't see anything wrong with this, my teachers always mentioned their wives and husbands.

It's cringy as fuck though and I suspect the children are laughing at it.

They don't 'need to know' - but neither do they need to not know, as if it was still something taboo.

IMO it's better if it's something that arises (or not) naturally than being pointed to as a specific 'diversity' issue.

Usual default might be mr Smith has a wife and 2 children but what if mr smith has a husband and 2 children it is absolutely fine for kids to know this. They are not telling children about Mr Smith's sex dungeon are they ?

I would find it a bit cringey, but I don't see a problem with students knowing that they have gay teachers. My students will know that I had to have had sex with a man in order to be humongously pregnant last term.

I wonder if some of these 'diversity week' initiatives are mainly driven by people of an older generation who grew up with overt racism and homophobia... whereas to the kids it may simply not be an issue, and making a thing of it is more likely to be 'othering' than helpful?

I've noticed over the years that DD has simply never thought it worth commenting on the skin colour or sexuality of people.

It’s a bit OTT - but I think that’s the holding signs up bit rather than the gay bit. Saying that my kids had a gay teacher last year who told them about his wedding and his husband and I was very comfortable with that as it wasn’t presented as the school’s Token Gay, just that his husband was a part of his life IYSWIM.

It’s a bit cringy, when I was at secondary school 25 years ago it was well known that one of the teachers was gay because we’d seen him in a gay bar when we were underage drinking, but I think if it had been declared as in ‘look how special I am’ it would have been a bit weird, and I’m not sure having curly hair really counts as being diverse, I assume that was the white heterosexual member of staffs best contribution?

It's all stuff that is harmless to know, but strange to make a point of it.

Teachers should teach. Their private lives should not be part of the lesson content.

At DDs Secondary school the dc know who is gay/straight etc both amongst the staff and kids. They don’t care and find it very uninteresting
Making signs about it would be unnecessary and pretty cringey
As part of a generation where a Gay teacher/pupil would not have been accepted by most of the staff and dc I think that sometimes we can make a big deal about something that to our dc is just completely normal and not even worth commenting on.

just that his husband was a part of his life

This is it to me. The normal sharing of aspects of teachers' lives is one thing, self-applied labels so that the teachers can be categorised into the relevant box/identity is another.

If it's gay today, it's gender identity tomorrow.

Jesus.

The 'sex' in sexuality referers to the sex of the person you are attracted to. Their biology. Nothing to do with having sex!

They are holding up a board saying they like 'long massages and slow fucks'

And if you mind your children know Mr Brown has a husband then I assume you dont want Mrs Johnson to ever mention hers... Or are you ok with teachers talking about their hetero marriages?

They AREN'T *

I cannot believe there are still people out there who think like this. Fuck's sake.

No issue with this at all - why wouldn’t they share their sexuality if they want?

I’d only have an issue if teachers were being pressured to share their sexuality if they didn’t want to so the school could say “look how diverse we are”

And to think that all we were interested in was finding our teachers' first names. Those were the days!

How old are the kids? Secondary, and yeah I think this is probably appropriate. There's still a lot of homophobia, so a happily gay teacher is a role model, potentially. Kids are interested in sex, after all. And we are in a world where the overwhelming majority of film, tv, books, etc etc shows straight people. So allowing a kid to feel that if they might be gay or bi, then that's okay, has value.

Primary, and it would be a lot more appropriate to have teachers with a range of family types maybe show a photo and say, "This is my lovely wife/husband and/or our kids/son/cat.." you can show a range of family types, all valid and worthwhile, without getting into anyone's sexuality, whatever that sexuality might be. Because younger kids don't need to know anything at all about adult sexuality. Love and families being of all manner of configurations, yes. Sexual adult life, no.

It's a tricky one re. biplar, because representation matters, but so do boundaries. And kids really don't need to know adults have huge issues, in my view, until they're A level age. Before that, they need to have a sense that someone's in charge who knows what they're doing - an illusion, of course, but important for security.

Never heard of ‘School Diversity Week’ so I looked it up:

School Diversity Week is a national celebration of LGBT equality in schools run by the charity Just Like Us.

Now I am cross. Why does diversity always have to come down to, or be dominated by LGBT? Sexuality is ultimately a private matter. When you are interacting with people on an individual basis it shouldn’t even be apparent. So why is this the great achievement of diversity? Where is the celebration of the diversity individuals carry with them in every interaction - race, language, disability, nationality or the more nebulous belief and outlook on life?

I cannot believe there are still people out there who think like this. Fuck's sake.

A million times this ^

At DDs Secondary school the dc know who is gay/straight etc both amongst the staff and kids. They don’t care and find it very uninteresting
Making signs about it would be unnecessary and pretty cringey
As part of a generation where a Gay teacher/pupil would not have been accepted by most of the staff and dc I think that sometimes we can make a big deal about something that to our dc is just completely normal and not even worth commenting on.

That's lovely, but sadly that's not yet so in all schools. Hopefully in time it will be, but there's a fair bit of homophobic bullying in a few schools in this area. I know from a friend who teaches in a large London comprehensive, though, that the attitude there is exactly as you say. Progress can happen, thankfully.

I would be equally unimpressed to see a teacher holding up a sign saying "I am straight".