ABSTRACT
Awards can open new world-helping opportunities you never anticipated. Consider when Nikos Giannopoulos won Rhode Island’s Teacher of the Year in 2017. President Trump had just taken office and his administration had already revoked protections for transgender students and removed the LGBT+ rights webpage from the White House’s website. Giannopoulos, who is gay and has gay and transgender students, made a deliberate choice to not tone down his style for his photo op with President Trump and the First Lady. Giannopoulos wore a rainbow lapel pin, nose ring, and gold anchor necklace, cocked his head and hips to one side, and (despite a White House aide’s objections) splayed his partner’s black lace fan in one hand for the camera. The photo was an internet sensation and, more importantly, sent a strong message that LGBT+ educators and advocates would not shrink back when faced with the new administration.
