Kentucky’s Teacher of the Year Quits, Citing Discrimination
metroweekly.comThe man named Kentucky’s 2022 Teacher of the Year has quit his teaching position, citing anti-gay discrimination as one of the reasons for his defection.Willie Carver, Jr., an English teacher at Montgomery County High School in Mount Sterling, Kentucky, for the past 17 years, announced in an interview with the Lexington-Herald Leader that he would be taking a job with the University of Kentucky’s Office of Student Support Services.Carver attributed his decision to leave to his frustration “facing discrimination, heartache, and being a part of systems that cause harm” during his years as a public school teacher.
He said he spent years watching administrators try to stifle LGBTQ identities, which he described as “death by a thousand cuts,” according to NBC News.While Carver was able to teach without having to closet his identity, he said his employer ordered teachers to remove books written by LGBTQ authors from the school’s curriculum, defended students accused of tearing down rainbow Pride posters from school walls and shut down a student-led poll that aimed to gather feedback from students about the school’s climate for LGBTQ inclusion.But Carver says the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was when administrators failed to address repeated harassment against him and LGBTQ students at Montgomery County High School.In March, a group of community members began showing up at school board meetings, repeatedly accusing Carver and LGBTQ students of being “groomers,” on the grounds that by merely being visible and unashamed of their identity, Carver and his students were enticing or “indoctrinating” other students to begin identifying as LGBTQ or to begin accepting homosexuality as normal.The use of the term “groomer,” which.
