A nine-year-old
has written an incredible, heartfelt, A+ letter to her gay teacher.
You can read
the full screencap below, or read the transcription here:
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 words 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 everyone in the class feels the
same way as I do.
From A.
PS Mr R we are
proud of you.
Incredible,
right?
'As a primary
school teacher I’d always worried about mentioning my sexuality, despite the
fact that my colleagues talked about their husbands, wives and significant
others all the time,' the teacher
'As a primary
school teacher I’d always worried about mentioning my sexuality, despite the
fact that my colleagues talked about their husbands, wives and significant
others all the time.
'Then, as part
of anti-bullying week, I’d asked who’d heard "gay" being used as an
insult. Almost every one of my class put their hands up. I was stunned.
'Then I asked
who thought that people who were gay or lesbian were bad or wrong in some way,
again almost every hand went up.
'After speaking
to my Head, who was very supportive, we agreed I could tell the class that I’m
gay so they at least knew one gay person and hopefully explain that when people
use that word they’re talking about me.
'The reaction
was fantastic – there were a lot of gasps and shocked looks and some basic
questions – do you have a boyfriend, etc – but after a couple of minutes they
were over it and we moved on to the rest of the lesson.'
He continued:
'The letter came a couple of days later. The little girl who wrote it gave it
to me at the start of the day with all the other slips about dinner money,
school trips and doctor's appointments.
'Reading it
brought tears to my eyes and it took me a little while to compose myself. When
I thanked her she just shrugged and repeated something one of the boys in the
class had said during the lesson, "It’s just your life". Then she
went back to her maths.
'For my class
it was a surprise sure but, to them, it was just something simple and easy to
file away as another piece of information. There was no judgement, no follow
up, just acceptance.
'Now, I can
mention my fiance as easily as any other teacher and my class know me a little
better. I’ve had a lot of letters and cards over the years, but this one I know
I’ll keep forever.'
Priceless! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't resist
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