This is a really interesting thread. I'm currently training to be a secondary school teacher. I'm not out to my colleagues or the students, not even to my course mates. Tonight when asked about how my love life was going I even said "I'm putting it on hold till I finish the coures" !
Its strange cause in my head I don't really have a problem with people knowing or talking about my sexuality, I'm out to my family and oldest friends.
But with people associated with school and with new people generally now, I seem only to feel comfertable if people ask me straight up (ahem) are you gay/bi? etc and I answer honestly, however of course people are much to polite/PC to ask like that anyway!
I don't know if its cause of working in this education environment and the self preservation thing, or just cause I'm training and am just wanting to keep my head down and get through it. but I seem to be terrified of offering information about myself, I'm even changng pronouns when talking about my ex!
I feel ridiculous and I'm sure everyone knows or suspects anyway, but I can't quit it. My coursemates would be fine with me, my dept would be cool. I teach modules on homophobia and gay culture and at least one of my mentors is out to colleagues. I recently changed flatmates, one has many gay friends, yet still I keep it to myself.
Part of it I think is cause I haven't had a girlfriend in over 3 years and I have hardly any gay friends, I don't go out on the scene, I don't date, I dont even watch the L word! I say nothing because there is nothing to say. I'm embarressed to be open, because there is nothing really in my
life for me to be open about about. I feel slightly ashamed than I am re-closeting myself. When I had a girlfriend I talked about her all the time. It was an easy way to outing yourself, you just throw it into the conversation. When your single, outing yourself is not as casual.
So am rambling now. I think that it is important for education professionals to be out, but its more important for them to promote gay-friendly culture within their classrooms. I would like to be out, but I guess I'm not ready. However I do think when I taught the modules on LGBT issues recently, I felt like it was one of the most important things I can do as a teacher. Yeah my class management skills arent too top notch at the moment, yeah some of the activities sucked and and and.... but I know if as a teenager I had seen teachers deliver lessons that treated gay people in straight forward, matter of fact, non sensational, non judgemental way. This would have changed my life. Like Tara and WIllow, it would have offered at least a little more balanced version, that maybe it was ok, maybe you can be happy, maybe there is more people like you out there than you think. Times have changed for my students, they won't be as completely in the dark as I was. but to hear balanced views from an authority figure, this is still so important and so needed. I think this is one of the most important things I and other teachers can do, wether we feel able to be open about ourselves.
N x