Staying in the closet is unfortunately something that gay people have to do all the time for their safety. There are still those who will criticize, bully and harass somebody just for being gay. This was exactly the case for Oregon teacher who thought he was safe to come out and discuss being gay after winning an award for “Teacher of the Year.” Even the famous Ellen had her show cancelled after announcing that she was gay.

The special education teacher, Brett Brigham, who won the award was put on administrative leave just shortly after receiving it. Just a few months later he was fired. Brett Brigham claims the only reason he believes he was fired is because of his talking openly about being gay. The leave didn’t start until he publicly admitted it.

Brett Brigham also claims that prior to initially being punished the school district asked him to stop participating in public speeches and interviews and if he did so he would be threatened with blackmail and being fired.

After being fired he has filed a complaint with his union as well as the Bureau of Labor and Industries. In an interview with local Portland news station KPTV this is what he had to say, “So basically it comes down to two choices, I can be the gay teacher who came out, who was told by his district not to speak and was crushed, or I could be the teacher who came out and was told by his district not to say he was gay and fought back for my First Amendment rights and the honest truth is, the gay part of this is very small.”

On the other hand the school board claims that isn’t at all why Brett Brigham was fired. Interim Superintendant Jim Rose has said, “It was a difficult decision and not what we hoped for. Brett is a great teacher. Unfortunately, it became clear over time that Brett’s focus was no longer his classroom and students.”

They claim that he was fired for missing too many days of work. They said that upon receiving teacher of the year he was given two months to travel and talk about it but when his time was up he didn’t return.

In a world so full of hate we’re hoping that this was the case and that teachers aren’t still being fired for being gay.