My name is Mikey Peattie and I am a transgender student at Lake Dallas High School in Corinth, Texas. One of my teachers, Dr. Fionn Corcoran, is the first openly transgender teacher in our district, and possibly in the greater Denton/Dallas-Fort Worth area. In the month or so since he came out, he’s faced not only discrimination from students, but from his employers and fellow teachers as well. I made an LGBTQ+ safe space sign for his door, and before his coming out, it got ripped down maybe once or twice. Following his coming out however, the sign was torn down almost daily, and I would just keep making more in the hopes that maybe it would last for more than a day.
When all the smaller posters were torn down time after time, we decided to make a bigger poster, this one with the names and numbers of various suicide and LGBTQ+ hotlines on it, and even this one has been torn twice in the past week, both times by the same two students. Though these students were caught on camera in the act, their behavior was swept under the carpet as them just “having their own views,” and Dr. Corcoran was subsequently told that they may be forced to write an apology note and make a new sign, but that was it. The fact that these kids, and others, repeatedly tore down signs that were intended for nothing else but to make a certain group of people feel safe and accepted clearly shows the atmosphere of hate and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that is present at Lake Dallas High School.
Earlier this year, the Gay-Straight Alliance that I am Vice President of put up around 20 posters around the school. It was subtle, and simply just had the name of the club and the meeting dates. By the next day, only about 4 remained, and within another day, they were all gone. Even when I saw someone tear one down right in front of me, and reported it, the student was simply required to write an (anonymous) apology letter to the club, one that was clearly scripted and took him maybe 10 minutes.
These occurrences, which could be characterized as hate crimes, show the staff’s indifference towards the safety of its LGBTQ+ staff and student body. Dr. Corcoran, despite being one of the most highly qualified and considerate teachers at the school, has been reprimanded for situations that any other teacher could find themselves in without the administration blinking an eye. They are systematically trying to push him out, without causing a scene that would ruin their image.
I and many others have stood by for too long letting this kind of abuse occur, and have finally had enough. We write to you hoping that media attention will force our admin to provide a safe environment for its LGBTQ+ students and staff, and make our school a better place.
Please please please spread this, without media attention, my school will be able to continue in its patterns of neglect, endangering its LGBTQ+ students, whilst protecting those who would try to put us in danger.
