A Rhode Island teacher who became a star on social media after displaying LGBTQ pride in a photograph taken with Donald Trump in the Oval Office also wrote that he wanted to tell the president: “Anti-LGBTQ policies have a body count.”

Nikos Giannopoulos, a special education teacher at the Beacon Charter High School for the Arts in Woonsocket, visited the White House in April with other award-winning teachers. This week, Giannopoulos posted to his Facebook page a photo that shows him next to a smiling Trump, who is seated at the Resolute desk, and first lady Melania Trump, who is standing. Giannopoulos is wearing a rainbow pin and waving a black lace fan.

By Friday the picture had been shared thousands of times. The caption included three rainbow emojis and said: “Rhode Island Teacher of the Year 2017 meets the 45th President of the United States. That’s all.”

However, in a post to his page on 29 April, three days after the White House visit, Giannopoulos went into more detail about his day. His remarks echoed reports in the national press detailing dissatisfaction among the teachers and their families about the way the White House conducted the visit.

“On Wednesday [26 April],” he wrote, “when I met the president … I did not know what to expect.

“… The man seated at the desk read prepared remarks from a sheet of paper and made some comments about CEOs and which states he ‘loved’ based on electoral votes that he had secured. He did not rise from his seat to present the National Teacher of the Year” – Sydney Chafee of Massachusetts – “with her much deserved award nor did he allow her to speak.

“After what amounted to a brief photo op, we were ushered out of the West Wing and back on to the streets of DC.”

Trump campaigned as a friend to LGBTQ voters and in office he has not pursued any change to the 2015 supreme court ruling, opposed by many conservatives, that made same-sex marriage legal.

However, hardline government figures including vice-president Mike Pence and attorney general Jeff Sessions are viewed with skepticism by LGBTQ campaigners, and the administration has implemented changes to regulations and protections, particularly in education, leaving some activists fearing “death by a thousand cuts”.

Trump’s proposed budget included a heavy cut to education spending and his choice for education secretary of Betsy DeVos, a billionaire hardline conservative and advocate of private schooling, has prompted widespread opposition.

On Facebook, Giannopoulos wrote that he wore the pin “to represent my gratitude for the LGBTQ community” and carried the fan “to celebrate the joy and freedom of gender nonconformity”.



“Taking pride in queer identity means rejecting the shame imposed upon us by a harsh society. It means opening yourself up to a lifetime of criticism and misunderstanding, but knowing that it’s worth it to be able to live authentically.”

Of the White House visit, he added: “In previous years state teachers of the year were given the opportunity to speak to the president for a few minutes each.

“Had I been given the opportunity, I would have told him that the pride I feel as an American comes from my freedom to be open and honest about who I am and who I love. I would have told him that queer lives matter and anti-LGBTQ policies have a body count.”