An Out and Proud Broward County School Teacher
By Tony Adams
Florida has long been a challenging place for LGBTQ teachers. In the 1970s, Anita Bryant spearheaded an effort to protect children from their influence in classrooms. Roughly half a century later, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill seems to honor her as a patron saint. Despite this persistent persecution, Michael Miller, an out and proud sixth grade Earth & Space Science teacher at Pompano Beach Middle School, has known the acceptance, praise, and admiration of his students and co-workers for eight years, having been named his school’s “Teacher of the Year” 2019-20. The fact that he continues as a stellar Broward County Public School teacher gives us hope that real Floridians are not entirely brainwashed by bigots and homophobes.
Miller, who grew up in Pennsylvania, knew what it felt like to be called the “f” word despite his strenuous efforts to appear straight. Sadly, there were no teachers willing to intervene on his behalf by stopping the insults he endured because of his dance and theater skills. Miller came out to his parents by breaking off an engagement to a woman, introducing them to his first boyfriend, and moving to New York City with a fresh degree in Biology. He says, “From the very moment I came out to them, my parents have shown me nothing but love, understanding, support, and acceptance. I cherish that more than just about anything in my life. It is priceless.”
In New York City and finding that his degree was not in high demand, Miller took an entry level job as a “Denim Specialist”, (i.e., sales associate) at the GAP on Broadway and 8th Avenue. This led to a string of high level jobs in retail, and, via a gay volleyball league in Manhattan, to Peter, his partner of 23 years. They moved to Florida where Miller began to tire of his career in retail. At the suggestion of friends who were educators, he became a teacher.
Miller recalls his first days as a teacher, saying, “After getting hired, and surviving the interviews and the tests to get the job, I figured it would all be smooth sailing. Not so. During my first week of school, some of my students started asking the personal questions. ‘Do you have a wife? A girlfriend? Are you married?’ were the most common. After evading their answers for a bit, something clicked in my mind, and I made one of my most important professional decisions. I decided that I was going to be honest with the kids. At the start of each period, I sat each class down and told them we were going to have a little ‘chat.’ I simply told them that I was gay, had a partner named Peter, and that it should not change anything about their being taught by me, but if they felt awkward or uncomfortable, I wouldn’t hold it against them and would personally get them to one of the other teachers’ classes in 6th grade science. No one left. No one laughed. I believe it’s because kids are actually for the most part okay with the whole gay thing. They just want people to be honest with them. I’ve not had one complaint about being gay in the eight years I’ve been a teacher, not from administration, parents, peers, or students….no one.”
Miller is all about expanding his students’ horizons. Many of his students are underprivileged, but he works to help them dream big and to exceed expectations. He says, “I love working at my school because it is the complete opposite of the tidy little suburb I grew up in. A lot of my students don’t know about or think about anything more than what’s directly in front of them. When I grew up, college was a strong option and expectation for almost all my classmates and me. This isn’t the case for my students. I like to tell them, ‘My job is to get you on the path to be more than you ever dreamed you could be, but first you have to find that dream and know that it’s possible.’ I also have been the boys’ volleyball coach for the past 6 years. We won the county championship during an undefeated season in 2018-2019. That was one of the proudest moments of my life, to be honest. Also, every student and parent of those students every year I’ve coached have known I’m gay and the reason I know this is because Peter, my dear partner, has been my assistant coach (and a damn good one, may I add) almost all of those years.”
Miller says, “Becoming a teacher has been the greatest gift I could ever have hoped to receive.”
