SHAMEFUL

Kentucky’s ‘Teacher of the Year’ Quits Due to Homophobia

Willie Carver Jr. said he’s leaving his K-12 classroom to work as a college academic adviser after facing constant discrimination in his school district.

The man awarded 2022 Kentucky Teacher of the Year says he is leaving his high school teaching job due to homophobia and a lack of support from school admin, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Willie Carver Jr., who has been teaching for 17 years, said he’ll still work in education as an academic adviser for University of Kentucky students. “I also increasingly find that, as a queer person in K-12 education, I have been unable to do that work without facing discrimination, heartache, and being a part of systems that cause harm, though I am immensely proud of my brilliant, hardworking, and fierce colleagues who have and continue to change that system in defense of students,” Carver wrote in a Facebook post. At his job in Montgomery County, Carver said he and former students have been attacked by “vocal anti-LGBTQ extremists” during school board meetings and on social media, with no support from district officials. He even testified about the rampant anti-LGBT hate to a congressional subcommittee in May.