re: #269 Kruk

We had this very point raised here in New Zealand when we were considering expanding our human rights laws to exclude discrimination against gays in employment, housing etc. Some people said that if gays were allowed to be teachers, they would have more chances to recruit young people to their ‘cause’. (This was less than 20 years ago.) Thankfully, the majority of people rejected that line.

Back in jr. high school (this would be the mid-60s) I had a couple of teachers who were almost certainly gay. I don’t recall their recruiting anyone. Heck, what did we know? I doubt the thought ever crossed any of our little minds. As far as we knew, teachers got put away in drawers in the teachers’ lounge overnight and were trotted out again in the morning. Our parents knew, but no one cared. They were fine teachers. My kids had a gay teacher in high school (in the 90s) and once again, it was a non-issue.