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The owners & creators of Gay Teachers Overseas (GTO) are a same-sex married couple from Canada, and both are educators living in Australia. In researching and applying for teaching positions overseas, they were faced with many challenges as they attempted to apply for positions as an openly gay couple. They also had difficulty finding a comprehensive site with current, relevant topics to educate today's youth. The GTO team hopes that this company will provide a resource for everyone but also to make it easier for GBLTQ teachers to work and enjoy life just like anyone else. The choice of the word "gay", on this website is used to describe any gay, lesbian, or bisexual person. We would include transgender and trans-identified, but unfortunately, we are nescient of such experiences and were weary of writing beyond our own knowledge. We chose this term by default. The term "queer" is often considered more politically correct and all-encompassing, but its most prolific synonym "odd" carries a clout of shame, which we cannot endorse, and we aren't entirely convinced of the "reclaiming" argument. "Gay", on the other hand, at its worst means "happy" and it is only negative if you are already homophobic. So if you object, bear with us, it's an imperfect world. Great harm has been done to people who live outside the norms of their society. The persistence of difference suggests that embracement would be more effective than denial. Leadership is required in all communities to encourage a "stepping out" from this damaging perspective; starting within school communities that will impact the most vulnerable, fastest.
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