A 9-year-old student wrote a heartwarming letter to her teacher after he told his students he was gay during a lesson on bullying reports Pink News. The letter comes after the teacher, listed as Mr. R., was teaching a lesson during the school's anti-bullying week and asked the Head of the school if he could tell the class that he was gay after learning that nearly the entire class heard the word "gay" used as an insult. The Head of the school supported R. and allowed him to share his life with his students; he was thrilled with the results after confiding his sexuality.
Said R.:
"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."
A few days after sharing his sexuality with his students, one of them slipped him a letter. Names in the letter have been blocked out for privacy.
The letter in its entirety:
"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 word's (sic) 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 x x
PS. Mr. R., We are proud of you”
The letter brought R. to tears, and upon thanking her for the touching letter she simply replied, "It's just your life." For R. it's a relief to finally unveil a part of his life that he kept hidden, and use it as a compassionate educational experience for his students.
Said R.:
"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."
