Dorman High School: Bear Brotherhood meaning explored as teacher gets fired for handing out LGBTQ article to students

A language arts teacher from Dorman High School was reportedly fired for passing around an unapproved article on the Bear Brotherhood to her students. Officials from Spartanburg School District 6 said that they learned about the allegations against the Dorman High School teacher on Friday, April 14, 2023. Authorities also said that they spoke to the teacher about the allegations.

However, the teacher reportedly told them that it was her decision to distribute the unapproved article to the students. She also facilitated a class discussion on the Bear Brotherhood. The school district claimed that the article was "inappropriate" and hadn't been approved by the school board either.

The unapproved article was about an LGBTQ+ subgroup called that referred to itself as the International Bear Brotherhood. The group provides a pathway for men to feel more comfortable and secure about their s*xuality. The Bear Brotherhood has a history of supporting homosexual men.

The article, which can be found here, was called The International Bear Brotherhood: What it is and Why It's Important.

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What is the Bear Brotherhood?

Within male culture, a large-sized hairy man is called a bear. The man in question projects some sort of "rugged masculinity" and a growing subset of the LGBT community with its events, codes and a culture-specific identity.

Bears usually tend to have hairy bodies and an abundance of facial hair. Some are heavy-set, whereas some project an image of working-class masculinity in their grooming and appearance. However, none of these are requirements or unique identification criteria for the brotherhood.

The Bear Brotherhood pride flag was designed in 1995 by Craig Byrnes. It is meant to represent the bear subculture within the wider LGBTQ+ community.

The term "bear" can only be used in the context of a slang term for non-heterosexual men.

A user talked about how it was not an appropriate topic of conversation for a classroom (Image via Twitter/ConnorF83722540)

The teacher who circulated this article was fired after authorities found out about the inappropriate materials.

The teacher reportedly claimed that the actions around the article were of her own accord and that she had not sought permission or approval beforehand.

A parent at Dorman High School told WSPA that the article incident was "disturbing" because the aforementioned article was not in alignment with her family views. The parent said:

“We would be open for discussion and conversation afterwards. But it’s not something that I feel like should be brought up, and it would aggravate me that it happened to my child.”

According to the district, the teacher was placed on administrative leave until the investigation into her was over. At the end of the investigation, she was fired by the authorities.

A user puts his point of view across on the discussion (Image via Twitter/ Max_J619)

The parent said:

“I don’t wish for anyone to lose their job, and I hope the person who did finds work, but at the same time, we go to school to learn about other things. You don’t want views being pushed onto your kids."

The anonymous parent added:

“You want them to go learn academics and let them develop into their life, upon what their own views are."

The school district said that they had recently called a meeting where all teachers were reminded of the importance of having all questionable lessons and materials approved before they were taken to the classroom. The teacher who was fired was also a part of this meeting.