The assembly at Risedale School, a state high school in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, was organized to honor Pride Month with speakers such as Lt. Col. Jim Turner, Commander of the military base Catterick Garrison, and Hanna Johnson, North Yorkshire. LGBTQ + police representative. But there was also the 54-year-old school principal, who the students soon realized were surprised to introduce him to his husband, Drew Dalton, a sociology lecturer at the University of Sunderland. Scott grew up in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, and knew he was gay as a teenager, but did not embrace it. As a child in the 1980s, says Scott, “he was taught to think in a certain way.” He thought he was going through a phase and tried to force himself to be straight, he said. He joined the Royal Navy before the lifting of the ban on homosexuality in the forces in January 2000. “I suppressed who I was and fought. I do not blame the navy, by the way, the navy was great for me. “But I realized I had to leave before I knew it.” Scott became a teacher at a time when Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government was enacting Article 28, which banned local authorities from “promoting” homosexuality and meant that there was no support for students who needed it. The law was repealed in Scotland in 2000 and in England and Wales in 2003. Scott said going out 15 to 20 years ago would have hurt his career, but these days he is happy to be openly gay and has been in a political partnership with Dalton since 2008. School staff and administrators knew for his sexuality for years, but the 500 students did not know until Monday. (From left) PC Hanna Johnson, Drew Dalton, Colin Scott and Lt. Col. Jim Turner. Photo: provided “It simply came to our notice then. Why can’t I be like my students? “Why can’t I be honest with myself?” said Scott. “There may be children struggling with their sexuality and the position I have means I can be a role model. “A lot of different things have all come into place.” “Children today are much more ‘able and willing to accept people than we might have been as children,’” he said. “I’m tired of hiding it. “Now I can take my husband to social events. I do not need to hide it.” Last year, Nicholas Hewlett, the principal of a private school in south London, made headlines when he appeared to students at a virtual school meeting. Scott said he did not know any other state high school principals coming out to their students. He said he felt “awe and admiration” for the young people for whom he was responsible. “I think to myself, ‘Why could not I be as open and accepting as most young people now feel confident enough to do and are?’” Prejudice and bullying still exist in schools and if public presence helps a child, then it is enough, he said. The assembly itself was a bit blurry because of how nervous he was, he said. “The assembly did not concern me, it was about individuality; but the children applauded me, the whole school, made me cry a little.” Then the teenagers did not treat him differently. “They still think I’m a dude,” he joked. “But a number came and said they were proud of me, which is not what I expected.”
