![\"Daniel](\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Daniel_Gray_gay_teacher.jpg?resize=600%2C338\")
<\/p>\nTeacher Bullied for Being Gay Came out to 1,000 Kids at Assembly<\/b><\/p>\n
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A south London teacher took the step of coming out as gay at a school assembly<\/a> to a thousand pupils at the Harris Academy South Norwood in Croydon.<\/p>\n Daniel Gray, 32, had himself been bullied as a schoolboy and recorded a video<\/a> to coincide with LGBT History Month in which he shared his experience:<\/p>\n \u201cI went through all the things the school was doing for LGBT History Month, and then I just said, \u2018As a gay<\/a> man<\/a>, I know how important it is to have positive role models, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re doing this.\u2019<\/p>\n I was so relieved when it was done, and then the response was just like \u2018OK\u2019 and a few people shrugged. Most people weren\u2019t even bothered.\u201d<\/p>\n Gray had not only been tormented by classmates for being gay<\/a> before he himself had even fully been aware of his sexuality, but his supervisors advised him to keep it a secret from his students:<\/p>\n \u201cI was told categorically when I started to train to be a teacher nine years ago not to come out to my students.<\/p>\n They said you don\u2019t want to give them any more ammunition than they\u2019ve already got, and that\u2019s really a very depressing and very sad way of looking at it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s assuming the students are out to get you.\u201d<\/p>\n Gray had initially complied for several years, but increasingly became aware that students who, like he had, might be struggling for acceptance and understanding might want to an authority figure as a role model. His hunch paid off with the response he received:<\/p>\n After the assembly, a student who had never been taught by Daniel approached him to tell the teacher how it had changed his life.<\/p>\n Daniel said: \u201cThe fact that that opportunity was there for him, the fact that he doesn\u2019t feel like he\u2019s on his own any more I think is really, really powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n Gray later shared his story<\/a>\u00a0with the BBC.<\/p>\n The post Teacher Bullied for Being Gay Came out to 1,000 Kids at Assembly<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n