{"id":7819,"date":"2017-07-19T15:48:37","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T10:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=7819"},"modified":"2017-07-19T15:48:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T10:03:37","slug":"bisexual-teacher-came-out-to-help-suicidal-students-but-then-lost-his-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/bisexual-teacher-came-out-to-help-suicidal-students-but-then-lost-his-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Bisexual teacher came out to help suicidal students but then lost his job"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Kathmnadu\/Pahichan – ‘There was a long, awkward pause until she finally smiled and said “yes, well thank you, sir” and I was dismissed’<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\"Bisexual<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
A Kentucky-based teacher lost his job after coming out as bisexual in an attempt to help suicidal students.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Nicholas Breiner started teaching chorus three years ago at\u00a0McNabb Middle School in Montgomery County, Kentucky.<\/p>\n

In a press statement, he\u00a0explained:\u00a0\u2018For years, it was my opinion that my sexual orientation was my business and nobody else\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u2018When a child is ready to take their own life because they love differently than those around them, you must prioritize their safety over your own privacy.\u2019<\/p>\n

He explained he was previously afraid his\u00a0community wouldn\u2019t accept him for who he is.<\/p>\n

After a decade in the closet, he came out \u00a0with the hope of helping suicidal LGBTI students at his school.<\/p>\n

\u2018I had stayed in the closet for years. But I have had two students attempt suicide this year. I have intervened on five others before they got that far.<\/p>\n

\u2018The vast majority of these students were LGBT students,\u2019 Breiner explained.<\/p>\n

\u2018I decided it was no longer ethical to stay closeted when there was a possibility being out might make me more accessible to my struggling students who might be considering suicide.\u2019<\/p>\n

Seeing suicidal youth was \u2018truly terrifying,\u2019 he said\u00a0to GSN.<\/p>\n

Breiner\u00a0spoke about his own school\u00a0experience: \u2018I was suicidal in college. I went as far as to pack up my belongings and go out to make my attempt.<\/p>\n

\u2018Luckily, I had people in my life who\u00a0supported me and helped me through it. So many of my students feel they have nobody to go to.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019re 12, 13, 14 years old. And they feel the only reasonable option available to them is to no longer exist. It cannot be allowed to continue,\u2019 he explained to GSN.<\/p>\n

\u2018She said \u201cyes, well thank you, sir\u201d and I was dismissed\u2019<\/h2>\n

Despite having the best of interests at heart, coming out had quite a negative impact on Breiner\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

Breiner was pulled from the class he was teaching to be\u00a0cautioned against being open about his sexuality. This happened the next school day after coming out.<\/p>\n

The issue did not stop there however. When his contract was due for renewal, he was told it would not be.<\/p>\n

Without prior notice, Breiner was pulled out of a class called to \u2018pop by for a chat\u2019 with the principal.<\/p>\n

\u2018I suspected, given the trouble I had been given since coming out, that it might be to notify me of non-renewal,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I immediately made a call to my teacher\u2019s union representative and was able to get her to the meeting, which visibly angered the principal.<\/p>\n

\u2018My principal then informed me that my contract would not be renewed, refusing to give any specific reasons when I asked. I reminded her my performance as a teacher had been rated overall \u201cexemplary\u201d for two years.<\/p>\n

\u2018There was a long, awkward pause. Then she finally smiled and said \u201cyes, well thank you, sir\u201d and I was dismissed.\u2019<\/p>\n

When Gay Star News asked Breiner if he believed his coming out had an impact on the schools decision, \u2018it becomes more and more clear to me it was a deciding factor.\u2019<\/p>\n

Breiner explained while a vast majority of his colleagues have been \u2018exceptional\u2019 unfortunately he remains \u2018disappointed in certain administrative response.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Students would rather take their own lives than openly be who they are\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u2018The unfortunate truth is many of the people we have placed in high level administrative roles have very little investment in our community.<\/p>\n

\u2018For some, the need to avoid controversy outweighs the need to do what is right for our community and our children.\u2019<\/p>\n

Kentucky currently has no laws against discrimination against LGBTI people in the workplace and conversion therapy is also still legal.<\/p>\n

The students of Breiner at McNabb Middle School have also experienced a \u2018roller coaster of emotions.\u2019<\/p>\n

A number of his students staged a protest on 17 June on the steps of the local courthouse.<\/p>\n

Breiner\u00a0says \u2018most people have been outraged at the very notion my dismissal was due to my sexual orientation.\u2019<\/p>\n

He\u00a0believes the behavior exhibited during this event \u2018creates the toxic atmosphere in which students would rather take their own lives than openly be who they are.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018There is a great deal of misinformation about this situation.\u2019<\/h2>\n

McNabb Middle School is in Montgomery County. Their\u00a0Board of Education<\/a>\u00a0has a\u00a0non-discrimination policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018It pledges to protect students and employees from discrimination based on \u2018race, color, national origin, age, religion, marital status, sex or disability.\u2019 It does not mention sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

Montgomery County Superintendent Matthew Thompson claims there was no connection between Breiner\u2019s coming out and losing his job.<\/p>\n

In a statement to GSN, Thompson said: \u2018There is a great deal of misinformation about this situation.\u2019<\/p>\n

Breiner \u2018was not fired or terminated,\u2019 he said. \u2018The employment decision relating to his non-renewal was not in part, or in whole, because of his sexual orientation.\u00a0 However, I am unable to answer specific questions about the non-renewal due to confidentiality.\u2019<\/p>\n

Copy :\u00a0https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathmnadu\/Pahichan – ‘There was a long, awkward pause until she finally smiled and said “yes, well thank you, sir” and I was dismissed’<\/p>\n

A Kentucky-based teacher lost his job after coming out as bisexual in an attempt to help suicidal students.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Breiner started teaching chorus three years ago at\u00a0McNabb Middle School in Montgomery County, Kentucky.
\nIn a press statement, he\u00a0explained:\u00a0\u2018For years, it was my opinion that my sexual orientation was my business and nobody else\u2019s.
\n\u2018When a child is ready to take their own life because they love differently than those around them, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":7820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[621,492,490,11],"tags":[447,502,715],"class_list":["post-7819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-opinion","category-slider","category-world","tag-bisexual","tag-lgbti","tag-sexual-orientation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7821,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819\/revisions\/7821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}