Last spring, a middle school chorus teacher in Kentucky lost his job just a month after coming out as bisexual on Instagram. He is now bringing a federal discrimination lawsuit against the county's Board of Education, according to Think Progress.
According to Lexington Herald-Leader, Nicholas Breiner, who was a teacher at McNabb Middle School, came out on Instagram because he wanted to support some of his LGBTQ students who have been suicidal. He wrote on Instagram, "I felt that they needed to know there was someone in the room that understood and supported them, regardless of who they were. As terrifying as it was to admit, I had to value someone else’s well-being over my own privacy," reports the Herald Leader. He told Lexington Herald-Leader that he had "personally intervened on several suicide cases" and a majority of these cases were from LGBTQ students.
Breiner filed a complaint to the U.S. District Court for Eastern Kentucky on May 3. He also filed a suit similar to this against the board of education in Montgomery Circuit Court.
According to the complaint, Breiner was asked to meet with Deputy Superintendent Rick Culross three days after he came out in social media. Breiner said he was questioned about his sexual orientation and after the meeting, he experienced "disparate terms of the condition of his employment, including but not limited to being called into unscheduled meetings, accused of violating policy not associated with the plaintiff, harassing phone calls during class and unfavorable evaluation."
Just one month later, Breiner was let go from his job. He was told by the middle school principal that his contract was not renewed due to budget constraints. Montgomery County Superintendent Matthew Thompson told Lexington Herald Leader last June that Breiner was not let go because he was bisexual. A straight woman took over his previous position, reports Think Progress.
