A few days ago, a male teacher from our local school system was found passed out alongside the road. He was arrested and the next day the papers reported the arrest. This seems appropriate. They also reported that he was dressed as a woman, wearing a tan bra, bra inserts, and pink panties.
I sat down with my eight year old daughter because while she doesn’t attend the school this teacher taught at, I had no doubt that it would still be the talk of her school come Monday. It’s a small town and something like that in the paper is going to bring out the bigots.
I said, “There was a teacher who was arrested for being passed out drunk on the side of the road.”
Bird said, “Oh, no, that’s not good. A teacher shouldn’t do that. It’s a bad example.”
“The newspaper also reported that he was dressed as a woman and was wearing a bra and pink panties. What do you think of that?”
She shrugged. “Not important.”
“Do you think they should have put that in the paper?”
“No. It’s not anyone’s business what color underwear someone has on, or if they’re dressed in girls’ clothes. Maybe he’s gay, or maybe he’s not. Maybe he just feels more comfortable in clothes like that. Maybe it’s just who he is.”
“Do you think what he wears has anything to do with how he treats his students or if he’s a good teacher?”
“No. His clothes are his business. Now…drinking until he’s passed out on the road? That’s a bad example.”
My eight year old gets it. Sadly, based on my Facebook feed when it all happened, grown adults don’t. Someone asked whether or not other people thought it was appropriate for the newspaper to release that information, and I was appalled by how many people thought the man’s cross-dressing outside of school was relevant to his job as a teacher. There were so many iterations of, “If he’s teaching my kids, then it’s information I want to know about.” Why? Because his pink panties are going to jump out and molest your child? Puh-lease.
Now, as my kid says, drinking until you’re passed out on the side of the road? Not a great example. His panties, though, are none of my concern.
