LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky music teacher who resigned after writing a message on a classroom whiteboard encouraging students to "be yourself" said Tuesday the resulting controversy stemmed from LGBTQIA+ biases.
Tyler Clay Morgan told the Herald-Leader he wrote a message on his West Irvine Intermediate School classroom board that said, "You Are Free to Be Yourself With Me. You Matter." The message included a rainbow flag and rainbow colors.
He "never talked with the students about being gay," Morgan said Tuesday.
"The students, who identified some flags, had questions. I navigated those questions as best as I could. However, I never talked with the students about being anything but themselves," said Morgan.
Morgan said that the students were able to identify what the flags meant or stood for.
Students "asked mostly why I had that up ... my response was always along the line of 'each one just means something different and each one means something to some people. Whether you're a girl that likes girls, a boy that likes boys, a person that is a different color, a person who thinks they are weird, you are bullied or are the bully, that nothing matters but music and love in my room.'"
Estill County Superintendent Jeff Saylor said the incident at the school, where students include third, fourth, and fifth graders, did not become an issue because of the statement.
"The issue at hand is the conversations that took place during class. I firmly believe that students and their parents expect teachers to teach content about their assigned curriculum in a subject area," Saylor said.
Saylor said Tuesday that Morgan, a substitute teacher, was told he could return to work and he decided to resign. When offered the chance to return to another school to finish his contract, Morgan didn't change his decision.
Morgan has said his choice to resign was one of my own, "after physical, including even death threats, occurred and I no longer felt safe in the environment that is Estill County."
Morgan said there are biases based on the location of the school district.
"I believe all biases play a part in this," he said.
In response to the controversy surrounding the message, Kentucky 2022 Teacher of the Year Willie Carver told the Herald-Leader that he has faced opposition during his time as an educator.
"Without question. I have been discriminated against. I have been harmed. I have been specifically targeted. I have been denied opportunities. I have been silenced. I have been pushed out. I have been left vulnerable by people in charge of me. I have never had a day teaching that I wasn't afraid," Carver said.
He says he is "very openly gay" and that LGBTQ teachers must be careful of those who "weaponize our message of acceptance."
"All teachers have to be careful because telling LGBTQ kids that they belong or telling others not to bully or harm LGBTQ kids is politicized," said Carver.
