9-Year-Old Girl's Adorable Letter to Newly Out Gay Teacher

A touching letter written by a 9-year-old girl to her newly out teacher is warming hearts around the globe this week. 

U.K. LGBT outlet PinkNews broke the story of Mr. R., an elementary-school teacher who — with his administrator's permission — came out as gay to his students as part of a lesson on bullying. 

Because of his students' age, the teacher told PinkNews, he had always been careful to avoid mentioning his sexuality, even though his straight colleagues regularly discussed their partners in the classroom. 

"As part of antibullying week, I’d asked who’d heard ‘gay’ being used as an insult," the teacher told PinkNews. "Almost every one of my class put their hands up. I was stunned. Then I asked who thought that people who were gay or lesbian were bad or wrong in some way, again almost every hand went up."

The teacher spoke with the school's headmaster, who approved the man's plan to come out to his class "so they at least knew one gay person and hopefully explain that when people use that word they're talking about me."

"The reaction was fantastic," the teacher recalled. "There were a lot of gasps and shocked looks and some basic questions — do you have a boyfriend, etc., — but after a couple of minutes they were over it and we moved on to the rest of the lesson."

But one student's response stood out, as it came the following day in the form of a handwritten note. 

"Dear Mr. R," the 9-year-old girl's letter began. 

In cursive-style lettering that seemed carefully penned, she continued:

"Even though you’re gay, I will always treat you the same way as I do now. I still think about you the same way as I used to. You’re a great teacher and these are just some of the word’s [sic] that I would describe you as: great, amazing, fantastic, brilliant, awesome and brave.

"The reason why I say brave is because you shared a personal secret which was very brave.

"You don’t have to feel scared because I know that everyone in the class feels the same way as I do.

"From A

"PS. Mr. R., We are proud of you."

The teacher told Pink News he was moved to tears, "and it took me a little while to compose myself. When I thanked her she just shrugged and repeated something one of the boys in the class had said during the lesson, ‘It’s just your life.’ Then she went back to her maths."

The teacher said he now proudly speaks about his fiancé as any other teacher might mention their significant other, encouraged by the nonplussed reaction of his students. "It was just something simple and easy to file away as another piece of information," he said. "There was no judgment, no follow-up, just acceptance."