Tranny Teacher

Tranny Teacher
All Titles TV Episodes Celebs Companies Keywords Advanced Search
Fully supported English (United States) Partially supported Français (Canada) Français (France) Deutsch (Deutschland) हिंदी (भारत) Italiano (Italia) Português (Brasil) Español (España) Español (México)
Sweet, shy Sarah is stuck in a troubled relationship with insensitive Dimitri and finds solace in her friendship with intellectual, understanding Professor Rivers. But Dimitri suspects the b... Read all Sweet, shy Sarah is stuck in a troubled relationship with insensitive Dimitri and finds solace in her friendship with intellectual, understanding Professor Rivers. But Dimitri suspects the brilliant professor's interest in Sarah is more than academic, so he confronts the sexy red... Read all Sweet, shy Sarah is stuck in a troubled relationship with insensitive Dimitri and finds solace in her friendship with intellectual, understanding Professor Rivers. But Dimitri suspects the brilliant professor's interest in Sarah is more than academic, so he confronts the sexy redhead and tries to seduce her. Will a man come between the older and younger women, or is t... Read all
Main feature runs 100 minutes; plus short subject running 20 minutes.
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Do You Recognize These Rising Stars?
Hollywood Heartthrobs Through the Years

Back

Leadership

Budget & Finance

Equity & Diversity

Families & the Community

Professional Development

Recruitment & Retention

School & District Management

School Climate & Safety

Student Achievement

Student Well-Being

Back

Policy & Politics

Politics K-12

Accountability

Education Funding

Every Student Succeeds Act

Federal

International

Law & Courts

School Choice & Charters

States

Back

Teaching & Learning

Assessment

College & Workforce Readiness

Curriculum

Early Childhood

English-Language Learners

Mathematics

Reading & Literacy

Science

Social Studies

Special Education

Standards

Teaching

Teacher Preparation

Teaching Profession

Back

Technology

Classroom Technology

Data

Ed-Tech Policy

Future of Work

IT Infrastructure

IT Management

Personalized Learning

Privacy & Security

Back

Jobs

Search for Jobs

Sign up for Job Alerts

Virtual Career Fairs

Post a Job

Career Advice

Careers at EdWeek

Back

Opinion

Opinion Blogs

Submit an Essay

Submit a Letter to the Editor

I’m a Transgender Teacher. Here’s Why I Came Out at My School

Reset

Search

Equity & Diversity

Opinion

By
Sam Long
—
March 28, 2019

5 min read

Remove

Save to favorites

Save to favorites

Email

LinkedIn

Twitter

Copy URL

Sam Long (he/him) teaches biology at an urban high school in Denver. You can learn more about Sam’s work at sam-long.weebly.com .

LGBTQ

Transgender Students

Teachers

Teacher Diversity

Jack Doyle & Christopher L. Doyle , July 14, 2020

On July 24, 2016, a photo of Philando Castile hangs on the gate of the governor’s residence in St. Paul, Minn., as protesters demonstrate against the deadly shooting of Castile by a police officer during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minn.

Teachers and faculty play a game to get to know one another better during a Welcome Back training at Chicago's CICS Bucktown in August.

Denisa R. Superville , September 26, 2022

Lily Freeman and her mother, Mindy Freeman, have actively campaigned against efforts to restrict LGBQT books in the Central Bucks school district and elsewhere.

Eesha Pendharkar , October 14, 2022
Sarah D. Sparks , November 17, 2021

Laur Kaufman, 13, of Harlingen, Texas, waves a flag at a rally at the state capitol in Austin against a bill that would restrict transgender students' access to single-sex sports teams.

Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP

Get the latest education news delivered to your inbox daily.

Tue., October 18, 2022, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Learn how to leverage actionable insights to strengthen your professional growth (PG) efforts and successfully deploy a year-round PG and retention plan.

Wed., October 19, 2022, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET

As we look ahead, how can educators effectively harness technology to benefit student learning? How can system leaders better support educators on this front? And what role does the principal play in the use of technology in schools?

Thu., October 20, 2022, 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. ET

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Learn research-based practices for assessment and instruction that will help older students overcome reading difficulties.

Content provided by Illuminate Education

Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
Legal experts say the policy balances state requirements with protecting students' and teachers' rights to discuss race in class.
A teachers' union and a lawyers' alliance marshal legal and pedagogical evidence for racially inclusive and culturally responsive teaching.

Middle school student Marvionna J., center, works with classmates Marcus Q. and Aaron A. to identify evidence from an indentured servant letter in a 2018 social studies class at Sabin Middle School in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Although some educators fear for their jobs, they say not teaching what students need to know would be a disservice.
A partnership involving several districts suggests smart professional development can help principals improve equitable practices.
Create a free account to save your favorite articles, follow important topics, sign up for email newsletters, and more.

High contrast

©2022 Editorial Projects in Education, Inc.

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

twitter

instagram

youtube

facebook

linkedin

My first year teaching high school was in 2015, months after the Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges , which guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry in the United States. Like many members of the LGBTQ community, I celebrated the landmark decision. But as a transgender man, I worried that not everyone at my school would be ready to embrace the ‘T’.
Schools are some of the most binary-gendered spaces in our society. Every adult uses the honorific “Mr.” or “Ms.” Dress codes and uniforms often differ for boys and girls. The building has a boys’ bathroom and a girls’ bathroom—single-stall, gender-neutral facilities are seldom an option.
A decade earlier, when I was attending high school and beginning my transition from female to male, these binaries were direct challenges for me. But when I began my career nearly four years ago as a binary, male-passing teacher, to talk about my trans identity was a choice. Could I work openly as a trans teacher? Or would I be better off not telling anybody?
Our training that summer had a strong focus on forging relationships among staff. We played team-building games and read teaching articles together, jigsaw-style. On a three-day retreat in the mountains, we shared our stories, hopes, and fears. We were given prompts like, “What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done in your life?” and “What is an experience you had as a student that informed your philosophy of education?”
For me, all the answers were tied to my trans identity. To omit this would be to omit the best and most valuable things about myself. And so I chose to stand up and share the story of my transition with my 50 new coworkers. First the room was silent apart from my trembling voice, then the air was filled with claps and snaps. My coworkers applauded my act of courage and authenticity. I slept soundly that night in my bunk with the other male staff.
By the time students had been in the building for a few weeks, I knew I wanted to tell them, too.
I told my principal, Dan, that I wanted to come out to the students at one of our all-school morning meetings. We sat down together to plan out what that would look like. I wanted to broadly message to students that identity can be tricky to figure out, and it can only be self-determined. Thinking of our queer, trans, and questioning students, as well as our students of color and multiracial students, I wanted to pass on a message of affirmation: Believe that people are who they say they are, and celebrate it. Our school emphasized civic engagement, so I planned to highlight my experience as a student petitioning my high school for a trans-inclusive bathroom policy.
Dan liked all of these messages, and he scheduled my coming out for a Monday morning in November. Recognizing the sensitive topic, he planned to send a letter home to parents, allowing them to opt their child out of attending the morning meeting. Before I could object, Dan spoke with an equity consultant who talked him out of it.
The consultant asked him to reflect, “What if it were a presentation about homosexuality or Black history? Would you allow parents to opt out of that?” She suggested instead that Dan invite families and community members to this event, as a nod to the significance of my coming out.
When the day came, I stood in front of 500 students and I spoke my truth. I told the students that I was transgender, what it meant, and the challenges that I went through as a young person navigating school, work, family, and social life. As the carefully practiced story finally left my mouth, it entered 500 different minds, each to process it in a unique way. The students in the Gay-Straight Alliance club loved that this was happening, and in our after-school GSA meeting they gushed over its impact. I was stopped in the hall by a Harvard-bound senior that I did not teach, and she thanked me for sharing my story. An email landed in my inbox from a parent expressing gratitude for my decision to come out.
If any parents were upset, they didn’t contact me—they must have talked to Dan, who dealt with their concerns without my involvement. If anybody asked to switch out of my class, Dan didn’t allow it.
His support as a principal was a major factor in my decision to be out with the students. It is in the hands of school leaders to ensure that transgender staff are never made to feel like a burden for being themselves. School districts need precise guidelines on how to support transgender staff as they transition, come out, and continually navigate the workplace.
Four years later, I have shared my story with every new class that I’ve taught, totaling about 1,000 students in Denver-area schools. For many, I am the first openly transgender person that they have known. The significance of this is clear to every single child—if I’m coming out to a class of 30, I will have no fewer than 30 pairs of eyes staring at me intently while I speak.
Students find my story fascinating and easier to relate to than they might have expected. Not everyone has felt gender dysphoria, but almost everyone can relate when I say that when I looked in the mirror, it didn’t match how I felt inside, or when I say that my parents didn’t see me for who I really was.
Students process my story by talking about it with their friends or with other adults in their lives. I’ve seldom been asked a question that was intentionally rude, but when I decline to share, for example, my birth name, students easily understand that it is no longer a part of my identity.
It can be challenging for students to process ideas about gender-diversity, and some students express their frustration outwardly. One boy, who had a history of anti-gay remarks, came around my classroom during lunch and peeled my school picture off of the door. He stuck my photograph onto the sign of the gender-neutral bathroom nearby. Another boy in my class decided to write my name, incorrectly, as “Mrs. Long” on the cover of his final exam. I have noticed that it tends to be adolescent boys, processing many messages about masculinity, who externalize more discomfort about my trans identity.
Queer, trans, and questioning students react profoundly to my story and ongoing presence. For some, the reaction is all internal, and they don’t say a word or ask any questions on the day I come out. Others smile and nod, approach me afterwards, and want a hug. Every day I go to work, I get to be living proof that trans people can be happy and successful—proof that didn’t exist when I was a student. The result is that closeted LGBTQ students begin to consider coming out. In every year that I’ve shared my story, it’s been followed by at least one student coming out to the school community.
In some cases, I get to advocate for LGBTQ students when they are struggling. It breaks my heart when I learn that LGBTQ students are being bullied, almost as if I feel obliged to be a human shield for them. But the reality is that transphobia will persist in schools until confronted by all staff and all role models. The trans teacher can’t do it alone.
Reprints, Photocopies and Licensing of Content All content on Education Week's websites is protected by copyright. No part of this publication shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Readers may make up to 5 print copies of this publication at no cost for personal, non-commercial use, provided that each includes a full citation of the source. For additional print copies, or for permission for other uses of the content, visit www.edweek.org/help/reprints-photocopies-and-licensing-of-content or email reprints@educationweek.org and include information on how you would like to use the content. Want to seamlessly share more EdWeek content with your colleagues? Contact us today at pages.edweek.org/ew-for-districts-learn-more.html to learn about how group online subscriptions can complement professional learning in your district or organization.
Copyright © 2022 by Editorial Projects in Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

February 29, 2016 Digger for Truth
14

November 6, 2021 renegade
8

new follow-up comments
new replies to my comments

newest
oldest

Last edited 25 days ago by Fear of the Future
Copyright © 2022 Renegade Tribune . All rights reserved. Theme: ColorMag by ThemeGrill . Powered by WordPress .
Would love your thoughts, please comment. x
Honest, uncensored, and hard-hitting articles
A teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School recently started identifying as a woman, and this year has added massive fake breasts to his look, which has obviously upset some students and parents. If this was just a decade or two ago, I would assume this was a joke or an SNL sketch, but no, this is the world j
Ala Nylons Sexy
Petites Folies
High Heels Vk

Tranny Teacher

Report Page