Brian Rieper is an elementary school teacher in Toronto, Ontario, where he works for the Toronto District School Board. “It’s the biggest publicly funded elementary school board in North America,” explains Rieper. “It’s huge.” He and his husband, Chris, who is a teacher at a Catholic school, are parents to a 2-year old daughter, which has made them reassess their decisions around being out at home and at work. “Once we became parents, what it means to be out really changes,” he says.
For Rieper, that meant changing how and when he told his fifth-grade students about his personal life. We chatted about how he handles that, his husband’s very different experience, and how being around kids all day has made him think about the future.
Our conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
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