American Educators Losing Careers Over Perceived LGBTQ Identities

And it’s barely making mainstream news

Somehow, it feels like decades ago that I celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court decision (Bostock v. Clayton County) that declared that Americans enjoy the civil right to be hired (and not to be fired) if we happen to identify as transgender or gay. The June 2020 decision declares with great power and persuasion that “discrimination based on sex” must mean discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and that such discrimination is legally impermissible.

Bostock appeared to promise a new era of legal protections for LGBTQ people. Experts observed that while the ruling applied specifically only to the workplace, its scope was breathtaking and would usher in protections in many other areas of life.

That hasn’t played out.

Actually, we queer Americans are still waiting just for the employment piece of the pie — as illustrated by two recent stories that have barely been covered by journalists or noticed by Americans who don’t follow LGBTQ news sources.

The Oklahoma principal forced out over drag

A hardworking school principal in Oklahoma was just forced to resign because he sometimes performs in drag with personal friends at gay bars in his Oklahoma City neighborhood. Nobody disputes the principal’s qualifications, track record, or job dedication. But he’s out of a job because he’s a gay man who won’t hide in a closet.

For over twenty years, Shane Murnan worked as a teacher and later as an administrator while doing occasional weekend or evening drag shows. In this respect, he is unremarkable among gay men. Drag is part of our culture, part of an ordinary night out, and many of us dabble in performing.

Simply put, the Stonewall Riots happened in 1969, and since then, we’ve become increasingly accustomed to enjoying our social lives in peace. Meaning, we know we can step out to a gay bar without fear of police harassment or workplace discrimination.

Try telling Shane that!

When school started last autumn, he started a new job as the principal of John Glenn Elementary School in an Oklahoma City school district. Then, somebody circulated an anonymous “newsletter” expressing outrage over his private life. Soon, bomb threats came pouring in, and then Oklahoma’s Education Superintendent Ryan Walters publicly pressured Shane to resign.

Walters made his reasons clear.

He threatened to discipline the people who hired Shane, declared that people who perform in drag should be disqualified from working as teachers or administrators, and announced that he has “proposed the most aggressive model in the nation for identifying and uprooting these folks from our schools.”

Why? He doesn’t say, but his education department has stated that educators who perform in drag in their off time are “likely to behave inappropriately in the presence of minors in a classroom.”

That assertion is entirely unsupported.

No data has ever linked gay men or drag queens to sexualized behavior around children. In fact, we know from decades of research that young people are most likely to be victimized at home, at church, or at care institutions like orphanages and foster homes — by trusted family members or care providers. People who do drag in their off time show up exactly nowhere in the data.

Shane’s district superintendent says she supported him, but she pressured him to resign too, citing the high cost of keeping students safe in the face of threats.

He did resign, and he doesn’t plan to remain in Oklahoma, saying he has no future there as an educator. So there we have it, a gay man lost his job and has been effectively driven from his community — just for living openly.

Did you read about Shane’s story? I doubt it. Despite the manifest injustice and unkindness, it barely made the news. Not even in the queer press. It seems like this kind of unjust discrimination is becoming so common that reporting it widely is becoming increasingly unlikely.

Popular Texas science teacher out of work for wearing a dress on dress-up day

That headline above is pretty much the long and short. Rachmad Tjachyadi was born in Indonesia and has taught science at Hebron High School, roughly 30 miles northwest of Dallas, for over two decades. Students and coworkers love him. Apparently, he’s very funny and self deprecating, with a knack for explaining complex topics in ways teenagers can easily grasp.

He’s also known for accepting zany student dares in return for their doing well in class or on tests.

On Valentine’s Day, he wore a pink dress, boots, and a cowboy hat as part of a school dress-up day that saw many teachers wearing wacky costumes. Reportedly, he also wore a red dress that evening when he was helping chaperone a school dance.

Then all hell broke loose.

Chaya Raichik, posting as Libs of TikTok, tweeted out the photos you see above, along with baseless allegations that Rachmad is a sexual fetishist. Then a Texas anti-LGBTQ organization piled on, asserting that the teacher’s costumes show he must be a pedophile.

From those reactions, you’d think that a man wearing a dress is objectively horrifying — regardless of context. This comment on Twitter really got to me:

Remember when everyone thought Mrs. Doubtfire was so cute and funny? This is what it leads to eventually. Normalization of evil always starts as what seems to be harmless.

Normalization of evil? Did I really read that? About a beloved Hollywood comedy? About a science teacher wearing a costume? Sigh, yes, I really did.

On February 15, Rachmad was placed on administrative leave. He’s out of a job.

His students are protesting.

Julia Ngo, a Hebron High School student, circulated an online petition on February 15 calling on the district to reinstate Rachman. It received 500 local signatures within 16 hours. As of now, it’s up to over 12,000 signatures, though the bulk of new signatures seem to come from outside the community.

Julia noted in the petition that Rachman wore his pink outfit as part of a school “spirit day.” Many student commenters observed that he only wore costumes on official school dress-up days.

“He is being called a pedophile, among other names,” Julia wrote, adding,

This is NOT the case and he is beloved by many students at Hebron. He is a great teacher, he explains chemistry very well and has created a very fun and safe environment for his students. He does not deserve to be defamed and lose his job. He has been an inspiration to many students, and has created a space where everyone can feel valued and safe. In fact, many students in his class encouraged him to wear the dress in the first place. He has pushed many students to become better and shows genuine care for his students. The recent decision to place him on probation has left our community frustrated and disappointed.

Is Rachmad Tjachyadi gay? Is he a drag queen? The answer to the first question is: His students don’t know. They say he doesn’t talk about his private life in class. As to the second question, his costumes certainly don’t look like traditional drag. He might receive a warm welcome in a gay bar, but he’d probably be “dragged” to the men’s room tout de suite for a little friendly makeup and wig advice.

Despite all that, he’s out of a job because certain people think he’s probably queer. Given the threats that have been coming in, I wouldn’t be surprised if he decides to leave town, like the principal in the first part of this story.

I lost my job for being gay in the 1980s. I never imagined we’d regress to that point again.

I resigned under pressure too, a very long time ago when I was an intelligence analyst for the Air Force. I thought I had it all figured out, my whole life planned. I’d stay mostly in the closet except to close personal friends. I’d do well at work and after 20 or 25 years, I’d retire and take a high-paying private-sector job. Several of my friends/coworkers did exactly that. If you watch CNN, you see one of them commenting on military stories fairly frequently.

Then in 1989, a routine FBI security polygraph outed me as gay. Faced with the prospect of an involuntary discharge, I resigned. I don’t regret that, but I can’t say I don’t regret the six-figure income I’d be enjoying (on top of my pension) if my plan had played out.

Since I left the Air Force, I’ve been mostly thrilled with the state of progress in LGBTQ equality. But something is happening in our society now, something regressive, hurtful, and frightening.

I read stories like the two above almost every day. Local news venues are full of them. Transgender, gay, and other queer people are losing their jobs and/or feeling forced from their homes and communities.

Shane Murnan and Rachmad Tjachyadi were blindsided by hostility stirred up by people with extremist anti-LGBTQ agendas. Neither of them deserves to lose their jobs or their communities. Neither of them deserves the torrent of false accusations and hateful labels they’ve been tarred with.

Can anything good come of all this?

Yes! Absolutely yes! The average American, in my experience, is too decent and caring to tolerate harming innocent people. I’m sorry mainstream media is barely telling these stories — because I firmly believe that the telling itself would elicit a tremendously positive response in the majority of Americans who value kindness and fairness.

You’re reading these stories now. What do YOU think? What can you do to work for positive change? What can you do to promote awareness and cultivate kindness? You may be only one person, but you matter as much or more than anyone I’ve written about today.

Will you help tell these stories?

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