My brother was gay. I didn’t know this growing up. We were close, did almost everything together but this secret of his I did not know. Neither did my parents, strong conservative church going Christians that they were. They didn’t because my brother was afraid to tell them. There is one person he confided in, however. It was his English teacher, Mr. Pearson. My brother told him because he was in pain and needed someone to confide in. Mr. Pearson kept my brother’s confidence, listened to him, and helped my brother through his emotional turmoil. Of course, none of us knew it until my brother came out in his 40s. By that time my mom was older.

It was hard for her to learn about my brother but she did manage to handle it. When my brother told us that Mr. Pearson’s guidance kept him from committing suicide my mom said, “Thank God, Mr. Pearson was there. We would not have been able to handle it back then. I’m glad we didn’t know.” This story is illustrative of the need our teenage children often have to be able to talk to someone confidentially outside of their family. It was my brother’s job to tell us, his family, not Mr. Pearson’s job. Parental rights laws forcing educators to disclose confidential information upon parents’ requests are wrongheaded and ignorant. Politicians should butt out and let educators and school counselors do the job they’re trained to do.

Wayne Fuller

Concord