Daniel Gray
Daniel Gray is a teacher and middle leader at a school in Croydon. In February 2017, at an assembly on LGBT History Month, he decided to come out to the entire school. He explains the difference it made to him and his students…
Teaching was a way for me to right a few wrongs…
I had a pretty horrendous experience at school. I was very angry and very insecure as a result. But I wanted to channel that positively. My way of rebelling was by being the best I could possibly be.
I was told in my first job not to come out to students or to staff…
I found that really challenging because I’m a very open and honest person and I was having to hide many aspects of myself, particularly my sexuality. They said it would give the students “more ammunition” – those were actually the words they used.
I came out at an assembly in February 2017…
as I got more confident in my role and was promoted a few times, and now that I’m in a school where I feel supported and trusted, I thought “actually, what’s the worst that can happen?” So I did it. All I said was “as a gay man, I understand how important it is to have positive role models in school.”
Coming out is the best thing I’ve ever done in my career…
and I think that for my students, it’s the greatest impact I’ve had. Straight after the assembly, a year nine student came up to me and said “oh my god sir, that assembly just changed my life”.
For me, it was about personalising what it means to know and be a gay person…
it’s really hard to quantify but I’m having students coming to talk to me more and there’s a really relaxed, comfortable atmosphere. And that really helps their learning. And if there’s homophobic language in the corridor, they see me coming then they realise it’s personal. So they stop doing it.
Now I’m working to help other teachers be authentically LGBT…
With Hannah Jepson from Ambition School Leadership, I’ve met with a network of school leaders, unions and CEOs from academy chains. Together, we’re launching a research and advocacy network called LGBTed. The idea is to support teachers to be authentically LGBT in school, for themselves, for the benefit of students and to make schools more inclusive.
The union gave me a safety net…
if anything had happened off the back of me coming out, I know that there’s a whole network out there where I can go for advice and support. And that’s really reassuring for me.
Young people still need visible role models…
by being that role model you’re teaching young people they can be themselves and be okay with it. That’s it in a nutshell.