I did some digging into Becca's inquiry in class about documented histories of LGBT professors/teachers and found a bunch of interesting material:
A Denison Professor Karen Graves is the author of the book And They Were Wonderful Teachers: Florida's Purge of Lesbian and Gay Teachers (2009). The timing of these prosecutions occurred between 1957 and 1963, where the state legislative committee pursued and interrogated gay and lesbian teachers without due process. This article also mentions the Supreme Court case Board of Education of Oklahoma City v. National Gay Task Force, which was the first case to concern LGBT teachers. Worth a read!
Link: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159769
Coming Out From the Shadows: A History of Gay and Lesbian Educators in the United States: A brief overview of the project (2011)
Link: http://ccte.org/wp-content/pdfs-conferences/ccte-conf-sample-practice-proposal.pdf
Seems like there is a lot out there, it would be interesting to see what we could all find! I think focusing on LGBT professors is interesting because professorship is a very distinct profession. I could see backlash against these individuals in the late 50's early 60's because of a fear of "recruiting" young student, or perhaps being viewed as mentally ill or inadequate.
I was very unfamiliar with this, so I appreciated the read though it was certainly a somber one. I had an incredibly influential gay high school teacher, who was the only out gay teacher I've ever had. Even in a liberal neighborhood he expresses concern about being out, and probably wouldn't be out to his students were it not for his seniority. I also imagine gay teachers at private schools are especially vulnerable, as many of them have religious affiliations. Is it legal for religious schools to fire gay teachers on the basis of religious freedom? Should this argument work for a private organization (a school) but not a company? I wonder what the legal precedent on this is.
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