CHAPTER 22: By any other Name: From Silence to Selfhood

“Ms. Chi Chi?”

That is not my name. It is not the name of someone I have ever met. It is not a name I hear or say with any regularity. But one day, during my third year on the job, this name changed the course of my life as a gay teacher.

All gay teachers have at least two defining periods in their lives—the period during which they realize they are gay, and the period during which they realize they want to teach.

I knew I was gay before I knew I wanted to be a teacher. During my senior year of high school, I admitted to myself—and to exactly three other people—that I had a crush on my best friend.