The following are questions that have come up frequently from teachers during past workshops. The answers to some of these questions are provided, but the answers to others depend on local laws and district policies which you may wish to investigate before the workshop. 

Can I mention the words gay or lesbian in my classroom?

Local policy governs what a teacher may and may not ""teach"" in her classroom, but simply using the words ""gay"" or ""lesbian"" in an accurate manner should be permitted. Check the school district policies on health curriculum or related topics involving sexuality to see if the school has any specific guidelines about discussing sexual orientation or homosexuality. So long as the teacher's use of the words falls within the district's general curricular policies, the answer should be yes. 

May I teach a lesson on gay and lesbian issues if I want to?

Again, you have to check the local curricular policies to be able to answer this question. The school maintains control over what may and may not be taught, and it is best for a teacher to tell his or her administrator what s/he plans to teach and to have it approved in advance. Teachers do not have constitutional rights of ""academic freedom"" that permit them to select curriculum on their own, outside of what the district has approved. (Some teachers may have union contracts that provide limited rights of academic freedom, however.) 

Many districts require that a teacher receive permission from school administrators before they teach anything that may be perceived as ""controversial."" Sometimes schools also have policies - typically as part of the health curriculum - governing how a teacher must address gay or lesbian issues.2 If a teacher does teach a lesson related to lesbian and gay issues, there may be parental notification requirements. All of these policies are locally controlled and may vary from district to district.

My school administrator forbids teachers from coming out to other members of the school community, including other teachers and students. She believes that a teacher=s sexual orientation is private and should be kept private. Can she forbid teachers from coming out?

Generally speaking, a school may not forbid a teacher from coming out to another member of the school community when he or she does so outside the classroom. Inside the classroom, however, a school may forbid a teacher from discussing his personal affairs. If the school adopts this rule, though, it must enforce it with an even hand, i.e. it must treat gay and lesbian teachers and their heterosexual counterparts equally, as a general rule. For example, if a school forbids gay and lesbian teachers from discussing their lives outside of work, then it must do the same for all teachers, including heterosexual ones.

With respect to a conversation with a student (as opposed to another member of the school community), it is unclear whether a school has broad authority to regulate what a teacher may say, even when the conversation with the student occurs outside the classroom.

Our school is getting more progressive on gay and lesbian issues but we have some parents who are threatening to pull their students out of classes where anything about it might be said. Can they do that?

Local school district policies are the first place to look to answer this question. Consult the district's parental notification standards and the local policies on parents' rights to opt out of classes to which they object. Different localities have different requirements about whether teachers have to inform parents of the content of potentially controversial lessons, and about when or whether they permit parents to remove their children from certain lessons. If the parents are threatening to remove or transfer their children just because the instructor is lesbian or gay, however, schools should not permit the transfer.

A ""questioning"" student came to me looking for referrals and reading material addressing lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. Can I get in trouble for providing it to him/her? 

The law is very unclear in this area. If the conversation with the student is outside of classroom time or any school-sponsored activities, then teachers should be able to have personal conversations with students that are appropriate and responsible without the school being able to restrict them. However, the school has quite a bit of latitude to restrict the information that teachers can give students in their capacity as teachers representing the school, and resources about sexual orientation could be forbidden for a teacher to provide outside the approved health-related curriculum. It is always a good idea to ask an administrator before taking any action that a teacher fears may be cause for a parent to object. The teacher might also want to check the school library to see if any materials are available to the student there. 

The administration last year refused to allow some students who wanted to form a ""gay-straight alliance"" to have their club recognized. Can they do that?                 

If other non-curricular clubs are permitted at the school, then the administration cannot deny access to the gay-straight alliance. The federal Equal Access Act, 20 U.S.C. § 4071, requires that if the school permits any clubs to meet that are not directly related to the curriculum, it must allow all clubs to meet on an equal footing. The school may, however, choose only to recognize clubs that are ""curricular"" - closely related to actual courses taught or fields of study in the school. If the school restricts clubs to those that are curricular, it is not required to allow the gay-straight alliance to meet. 

I happen to know that a student in one of my classes is being threatened by his parents because he is gay - I think they may be hitting him, and they have threatened to throw him out of the house. Do I have any obligation to intervene?

State law governs the teacher's duty to intervene, or to report, if he suspects that a student may be the subject of abuse or neglect by a parent for whatever reason. It is a good idea to suggest to the teacher that there are resources available for gay and lesbian kids in crisis. (A list of resources appears in the handout section of this manual).

Last year, two female students signed up to go to the prom together as dates. Suddenly the school had a rule that students had to attend in boy-girl couples, or singles. Is that legal?

No. A student in Rhode Island sued in 1980 after his school refused to let him attend the school with a male date, and he won. The court concluded that unless the school had a solid basis to believe that a same-sex couple would cause ""severe disruption"" to the school environment, it had to permit everyone to attend with their chosen dates. The court even required the school to provide security in case the couple was harassed. Also, under Title IX the school is forbidden from discriminating on the basis of sex in its invitations to the prom.