The first headteacher of an English state secondary school to come out as gay says he was brought to tears when his news was met by an 'eruption of applause' from 'proud' students.
Colin Scott made his announcement to pupils during an assembly to mark the start of Pride Week at Risedale Secondary School in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.
The 54-year-old says since coming out, his phone has been ringing non-stop with calls from 'hugely positive' friends, family, students, parents and members of the press.
His story has touched the hearts of many and been covered by various national news outlets - even making it stateside and into the US press.
Yorkshire Live spoke to Mr Scott about his life-changing week and how his decision to 'be himself' is helping to empower others.
Mr Scott grew up in Hebburn, South Tyneside, in the 1980s "when being gay was not really talked about and very much stigmatised".
He left school at 16 and joined the Navy in 1984. He said: "I was defiantly straight and pushing back against the gay side of me and after four and a half years I found I couldn't suppress it anymore and left the Navy. I love the Navy and still miss it to this day and have them to thank for building me up to be the confident person I've now become."
Mr Scott began teaching in the 1990s but he felt again restricted due to Section 28 of the Local Authorities Act, introduced in 1988, which prohibited "the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities". He said: "That pushed me in a lot more and pushed me further and further back. It was something that I just didn't talk about."
The law was repealed in 2003 but Mr Scott "still felt very much that I had to hide it". He said: "I genuinely feel like if I went for any promotion and they'd have known about it it would have stifled it."
Mr Scott became the headteacher of Risedale in 2016 and although many of his colleagues and the governors knew that he was gay and had become happily married to Drew Dalton he said he continued to put up a "brick wall" about his sexuality and be the "social construct of what people think a headteacher should be".
He said he felt guilty that he was constantly telling his students to be themselves and not let their individuality get in the way of being who they want to be while also keeping his true identity from them. He said: "I felt like I was lying to them because I was telling to do something I wasn't prepared to do myself."
Mr Scott's idea behind the assembly was to teach the children that what he had been telling them was true, and so he invited Lt Col Jim Turner, the commander of Catterick Garrison army base, who is gay, and Hanna Johnson, North Yorkshire Police’s LGBTQ+ representative, to speak to the children. He also invited his husband, a lecturer at the University of Sunderland to speak, and planned on telling the children himself.
He said: "I wanted them to understand that it genuinely isn't a barrier anymore to get senior roles in the workplace. The assembly wasn't about me - it was purely about inclusivity - but I thought 'why don't I use this as a chance to let the kids know'."
Mr Scott said that after the other three guests spoke he geared himself up for addressing the children, having not rehearsed what he was going to say and suffering from sleep deprivation the previous night. He said: "I said to them 'some of you in this hall will be worrying about yourself and considering your sexuality and that's fine if you are because I was when I was at school'.
"I then started on a path that I wasn't going to come off and told the story of how I'd suppressed being who I was and pushed the gay side aside. I can't remember their faces at this point.
"I went into tunnel vision. But I said 'because I am gay and I suppressed that and by the way, that gentleman who spoke to you first is my husband and we've been married for 14 years'.
"At that point what really surprised and shocked me was that the whole hall erupted into applause. It brought a tear to my eye."
He said that he was worried about what the response would be from the wider community but that everyone had been hugely positive. He said: "The kids haven't treated me any different and said they're proud of me for coming out. I haven't looked at social media myself but my staff have told me that I should because all of the comments have been positive.
"It's been fantastic. I was worried that some of the children may use it against me and start hurling slurs from a distance but it hasn't happened.
"It also shows that people of my generation don't need to be scared anymore and don't need to remember what it was like. We can be ourselves and if me doing that assembly helps one person cope with it then it's been worth it."
The impact has already been felt though. One parent got in touch with Mr Scott to thank him as the assembly had inspired their child to come out to them, while another colleague said that a fellow teacher in Doncaster had come out to their students after seeing the story.
Since Monday, as well speaking with members of the press, Mr Scott has helped the school with marking Pride Week by holding a non-uniform day to raise money for LGBTQ+ charities. He said: "Hats off to the catering staff as well. Every meal has been Pride themed and they've been flying the flags. The custards been a different colour every day which has bee hilarious."
A regular LGBTQ+ club has also been set up for students on Wednesday nights.
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