South Carolina teacher fired for giving students ‘inappropriate’ LGBTQ+ article

A South Carolina teacher was fired after she handed out an unapproved article on LGBTQ+ identity to her 10th-grade students, according to the district.

Spartanburg School District 6 officials learned about the incident at Dorman High School on Friday and addressed the issue with the Language Arts teacher.

The teacher told school officials that it was her personal decision to distribute the article to her students and facilitate a class discussion, according to Fox Carolina.

The district said the article was “inappropriate” and “unapproved.” The article centered on an LGBTQ+ subgroup called the International Bear Brotherhood, which provides men a way to feel more connected to their sexual identity.

The article entitled “The International Bear Brotherhood: What it is and why it’s important” says the Bear Brotherhood is a subgroup within the LGBTQ+ community that has a history of supporting homosexual men.

The term “Bear” is described in the article as being slang for non-heterosexual men who are generally larger and have a lot of body or facial hair.

One Dorman High School parent told WSPA that the incident was “disturbing” because the article does not align with their family’s views.

“We would be open for discussion and conversation afterwards,” the parent said. “But it’s not something that I feel like should be brought up, and it would aggravate me that it happened to my child.”

According to the district, the teacher was placed on administrative leave while an investigation was conducted.

The teacher was then fired at the conclusion of the investigation.

“I don’t wish for anyone to lose their job, and I hope the person who did finds work, but at the same time, we go to school to learn about other things. You don’t want views being pushed onto your kids,” the parent said.

“You want them to go learn academics and let them develop into their life, upon what their own views are,” the parent added.

The district said teachers, including the one who was fired, recently attended a meeting reminding them that all questionable lessons and materials must be approved.