Complaint: a colleague
mocked a trans student in class.
Flags go on my door.
This happened a couple of years ago, a single incident brought up by the student rep at our department steering group meeting. The name tag on my door still has the pride flags that apply, and in general we still are a pretty safe place to be. What I see as relatively senior faculty is different from what a first-year student sees, of course, but equally of course that is a big reason why it's important to stay visible.
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Comments
Shoulda been fired
If teachers can’t leave their bigotry at home, they should be fired. Bit of a pet peeve of mine, that!
— Emma
Yes but no
A single incident is a single incident and since this person wasn't one of mine I don't know what kind of a talking-to they got, or if there was a larger pattern, or even who they were. But while firing people over problem behaviour is very rare I have seen it happen (again, happily, without being personally involved in any of the roles).
So I did what I could and upped my own visibility a notch from just having a rainbow watch strap.
As you say, every gesture of support is important
I wrote elsewhere about how when she was in a Sixth Form College over half of my niece's teachers wore a small rainbow ribbon on their lanyards. She isn't gay or trans, but has several friends who are, and says that it created a culture of respect.
She is a teacher herself now, and wears one on hers, even though the Council have banned it. When the ban came in, over three quarters of her colleagues started to wear one.
Every gesture of support is a huge help.
Lucy xx
"Lately it occurs to me..
what a long strange trip its been."