Welcome to Teaching While Queer!
Feb. 23, 2023

Breaking Stereotypes and Inspiring Students with Katelynn Hartman-Geier

Breaking Stereotypes and Inspiring Students with Katelynn Hartman-Geier

Host Bryan Stanton (he/they) sits down with lesbian elementary health and PE Teacher, Katelyn Hartman-Geier (she/her). The two discuss the moment you realize you're different, navigating social norms and self identity, and supporting teachers and students who are queer.

Join us on an engaging exploration with the extraordinary Katelynn Hartman-Geier. Katelynn, a cisgender lesbian elementary school health and PE teacher, bravely opens the book of her life, sharing her vivid experiences as a queer student growing up in the 90s, and as an educator in today's ever-changing world. Her profound reflections on the evolution of language for self-identification will give you an eye-opening perspective on this critical and complex topic.

Pushing the narrative forward, we delve into Katelynn's honest experiences as a queer educator, revealing the challenges she has faced and overcome. Her inspiring journey of embracing her identity and utilizing her personal experiences to shape her approach in the classroom is a testament to courage and inclusivity. From shattering gender stereotypes in sports to becoming a role model for her students, Katelynn's story enlightens us about the spectrum of womanhood and the power of diversity. This episode is sure to spark your interest and broaden your understanding about the importance of inclusivity, self-awareness, and continuous learning in creating a supportive environment for all students.

Support the show

To be a guest or to hear more episodes visit www.teachingwhilequeer.com.

Follow Teaching While Queer on Instagram at @TeachingWhileQueer.

You can find host, Bryan Stanton, on Instagram.

Support the podcast by becoming a subscriber. For information click here.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Teaching While Queer Podcast! Please help support the podcast by leaving a review wherever you listen to the podcast. 

You can find host, Bryan Stanton, on Instagram.

Follow us on Instagram at @TeachingWhileQueer

To be a guest or to hear more episodes visit www.teachingwhilequeer.com.

Chapters

00:05 - Growing Up Queer

08:44 - Queer Educator Experiences and Challenges

19:14 - Gender Stereotypes

Transcript
Speaker 1:

Teaching While Queer is a podcast for LGBTQIA plus teachers, administrators and anyone who works in academia to share their stories. Hi, my name is Brian Stanton, a queer theater educator in San Antonio, Texas. Each week, I bring you stories from around the world centered on the experiences of LGBTQIA folks in academia. Thank you for joining me on this journey and enjoy teaching while queer. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Teaching While Queer. I am so excited to have with me today Caitlin Hartman-Guyer, who is joining me from St Louis Missouri. Hi, Caitlin. Hey there, Brian, Nice to meet you.

Speaker 2:

Nice to meet you too.

Speaker 1:

Hey, tell me a little bit about yourself. What do you teach? How do you identify?

Speaker 2:

with the community. I teach elementary health and PE. I have little bitties grades kindergarten through fifth grade. I am a cisgender lesbian. I'm just outside of St Louis. I teach in a suburb, but I live more on the rural side, the outskirts of St Louis.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. You are my second teacher from St Louis. I have a friend of mine who I know from grad school who teaches theater in St Louis. It's super fun to get your perspective because mine is from Texas, so I love hearing from people all over the place. To get started, can we take a little time trip? Can you tell me a little bit about your experience growing up as a queer student?

Speaker 2:

Oh man. So I wasn't really aware of anything queer whatsoever growing up. Okay, so I'm going to date myself a little bit. I was in elementary school in the 90s. My family is super Catholic, loved to death, but very religious. We just didn't have those conversations. I didn't really see myself in anything. But also I didn't know. I didn't know what queer was. I knew gay people were bad and we go to hell or whatever. So, okay, I have a flash bulb memory. This is when I knew I was in second grade. We had this assembly. The high school dancers came over Like the theater kids. They put on a production. It was really cool and at the end of it my best friend's like wow, the boys are really cute. I'm like the boys, oh. I'm like, oh well, yeah, I guess I was looking at the blonde lady right there. I'm like what do you mean? So at that point I'm like, oh, that's, I wasn't supposed to respond like that. That's different. So, and just like throughout, like my you know, my glow up from elementary to high school, I have like these little moments where it was like, you know, kind of makes you think. But you know, I just didn't acknowledge that because it wasn't something that I? I just wasn't aware of it. You know it was still very taboo, yeah, I just it wasn't. It wasn't talked about. And because it wasn't talked about, I didn't have the language to describe my experiences or how I felt 100%.

Speaker 1:

I have that similar experience because I also grew up in the 90s and so it was a wild time for me because we literally just didn't have the language, because it was something that was so taboo we just never talked about it and so, like I think I was called, called words before I even knew what those words meant, and so it was just such an interesting time and, like you know, more words are even being developed, as we're, as you know, as an adult, I'm seeing new words that are coming out to help us with the community and kind of self-identification, and I just think it's so interesting that, like the, the words came after the realizations, like I'm different.

Speaker 2:

Yes, well, even now, like you said, like you know, we're we're as our we're more aware of different diversities of identities and everything else we're have. We were creating more language to better describe what people feel and how they are and who they are. It's evolution.

Speaker 1:

Yep, and so I finished watching the new League of their own series and have you seen it? Yes, I didn't know it Like and I've studied a lot of LGBTQ history. I have a minor in it from grad school or undergrad and I've studied a lot of LGBTQ history and I'd never heard the term invert, and I was like oh that's such an interesting word Because I always knew that the, the, the vocabulary of, like queers and queer, and that word popped up a lot in the series. But the word invert was new for me and I was like, see, look, every day you're learning something new.

Speaker 2:

That's used as an identifier, granted, with not a good identifier, but yes, even my kids at school, elementary kids, teach me new words every day. Like um a sepiossexual, what Uh can you? I need a little education on that. And and it's your attract to someone's, is it a mental connection?

Speaker 1:

I think it's intellect.

Speaker 2:

Intellectual yes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I have friends who are like I'm totally a sepiossexual and I'm like cool, love it. There's another one I can't remember the terminology for it, but it's being attracted to talent and I was like, huh, I get that, yeah, I get that. So, given um, that kind of realization and not, um, knowing the language, what was, what was it like to then kind of develop your own language and identity for yourself as you grew older?

Speaker 2:

Um, I would like I would self describe myself as a tomboy, but like stuff that like instead of lesbian. Oh, I'm just a tomboy. At the time I was dating um you know, I was in high school so I was dating boys, and when I was in college, oh, I'm just an athlete, so that's why I dress a certain way. Um, and then, like when I really did some deep digging into myself and some reflection of myself, it's oh, really, I was just using that as a shield for my real identity as a lesbian. I was clung to something that the street community accepted as okay and then, once I finally had that bond drop, I realized I was a lesbian. That's when I shifted that tomboy identity to that lesbian identity.

Speaker 1:

I think it's so funny because I was just used to joke about the fact that, like um, I think in the nineties, as a teenager it was like oh, I'm straight, oh, I'm bisexual, hey, I'm gay. Congratulations, you get that middle ground, and so I think so many of us especially because the language hadn't developed really at the time identified in all these different categories and just kind of didn't talk about the other part of it. So I feel that, like, as I'm an artist, I was a band kid, a choir kid and a theater kid, and so I was just an artist and so, even though I'm not innately effeminate, I have more eccentricities than most people, and so I just attributed it for a while to being artistic, you know, and it's that trope, that stereotypical trope of what is a, you know, a theater kid. Is that weird kid and the band kid is over sexualized, like all these things that we've seen play out in movies over the years, and so we kind of like I'll just put myself in this box until I understand what box I'm actually in.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so the longest time I put myself in a softball box it's like, ooh, that tracks really well, I'm teaching PE. Check off the stereotype, you know. But no, I do feel like we cling to social norms as kind of a gateway into allowing ourselves to, like, accept who we are.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely so. How do you think your experience has informed you as a queer educator?

Speaker 2:

For me. So when I was growing up and having these self doubts, I wanted to. I wanted validation somewhere for how I was feeling. I didn't see a whole lot of successful queer adults. They were demonized. They were. You know that people would call me F word. They would use these slurs against them. They were seen as like, othered or gross so like. For me, as an educator, I find myself in a position where I can exemplify or be a role model for a successful queer adult. I don't so. I'm this is an audio medium, but for me I present as more adrogynous. I have short hair. My clothes would be more seratite. As masculine, I present more masculine, but for me I can also show my students that to be a female, to be a woman, it's not just skirts and heels and long hair and makeup. There is a spectrum of what a woman is.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

That what you look like doesn't identify who you are. Two are on the inside is who you are, so I I strive to be a role model for my students that might be questioning themselves or might be othered on that they can see themselves reflected back.

Speaker 1:

And what is your experience been like as a queer educator, either with your staff or administration? Has it been pretty positive?

Speaker 2:

Honestly, I okay. So I'm in Missouri and we're a hot mess, not going to lie, but I really consider myself extremely fortunate. So with my district I have. I personally haven't felt any negativity about how I present myself or my sexual orientation. My staff has been phenomenal Since I got hired on. I've had a couple of hiccups with, you know, every once in a while, but in general it's been amazing. I have a lot of allies in the building. I have a lot of advocates who you know. Maybe a student says something that they don't mean but, you know, maybe they heard it at home and I'll ask you know a colleague, hey, what do you think? And I feel like I can be open with those conversations with my colleagues. I haven't had no parents have approached me with any issues. They have them, that's their problem, but they haven't approached me with any issues. My students when they hear that I'm married to another woman, they're curious. When I got engaged, remember I had this conversation with my assistant principal. I said, hey, what do I respond? How do I respond to the kids when they ask why I'm wearing a ring, like what's, what's the policy? Am I allowed to say my fiance? If they ask who it is to say they're a woman, like is that okay? I know I get in trouble. My wife's name is gender neutral, so I could get away with saying, oh, my fiance's name is Sam, you know, like I could slide by with that. And my assistant principal said no, you do whatever you feel is best. And she said you don't have to hide who you are, we'll support you no matter what. But that's been my experience and I am very fortunate, especially considering the area of St Louis I'm in. Like I said, I've been very, very, very fortunate. I'm a little spoiled here.

Speaker 1:

That's wonderful. I think it's fantastic, but also, at the same time, one of the things that that I personally struggle with is the fact that we have to ask those questions. Yes, when I started at my current campus this is the second school I've ever taught at I didn't have great experiences at my first school, when I came to like support from the administration on certain things, and so when I came into my new job, I was like, okay, looking around, people are setting up their classrooms. I'm with my teaching partner and I turned to her and I was like you see that on the wall, like how she has her whole family up there and pictures of her with her husband, you know, at their wedding. Like I never, I could never do that. And then she forced me to put them up in my room. She was like you absolutely need to do that. You cannot.

Speaker 2:

Oh, she's a super.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I was like when I won the lottery of teaching partners because I was so self-conscious Even. I had an experience at my previous school where, like the, my first principle was like maybe you shouldn't come out so quickly. And so then I realized, maybe two years later, that I stopped putting my family in my about me introduction thing, and I think it was subconscious because I was like rushing to do it yeah, cause they don't give enough prep time for things at the start of a school year. But I went and looked back at them over the years and was like, wow, I completely started emitting my family and then I put them back in because, self or subconsciously, I had taken what he had said to heart and I was also like rushing. So it's interesting the fact that we live in this kind of world where there are different set of rules and we have to ask if it's okay.

Speaker 2:

Or even like, subconsciously, I had the same conundrum with pictures of my family, my co-teacher, her and I have a great relationship that the end of the year she does, like a little about me, slide and project it in the gym and she has a picture of her and her boys and her dog and a little about me. And I always hesitate, even though, like I know that, like my administration has my back, I always hesitate like, ooh, do I wanna put like our picture up there with our cats. But yeah, even that, just some subconscious stuff, working through that absolutely.

Speaker 1:

I know you teach younger kids, but have you had the experience of working with any career students?

Speaker 2:

Yes, this year two kids came out to me as queer. One identifies as trans, the other identifies as non-binary. It's been, I'm not gonna lie, I've made a lot of mistakes on the path because I have known those kids for a while and I've associated one kid with being female for five years. So I definitely had to do some deep dives into how I interact with the student. Am I honoring their identity? Am I supporting them in class? There have been some tricky spots, with some other kids misgendering them and but also that student not really being completely out to their peers and just it's been. It's been a tricky year but also a learning year for me on how I can better be there for my kids and have them, help them feel seen and validated in my space.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. I think it's. It's so interesting for those of us who teach more of the elective classes because we do have this multi-year experience with our students, whereas in an elementary setting you're gonna have this student maybe one year, maybe two, and when you get to secondary it's usually gonna be a one-year process unless you teach one of those electives, and so we do get to know this person and kind of have to go through the similar processes not the same, but similar processes. parents, because we've known these kids for a long time what do you do when you find yourself having misgendered a?

Speaker 2:

child, the students bless their hearts. They, they absolutely call me out as they should. But, mrs HG, that's not. That's not who I am. It's like oh, you're right, I'm so sorry. Thank you for correcting me, but I do. I make sure that if I misgender them or misidentify them in front of their peers, that I correct myself in front of their peers also, because I also need to demonstrate what it's like when one of their peers misgenders them, how they should interact. But no, they, they are very, very open with me when I, when I slip up and I apologize immediately and it's I said, it's something I need to work on. It's not a them, it's a me issue, not so much issue, really more of just a learning curve for me.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's a memory thing. I had an instance happening earlier this year where I like literally only known this child as the name they asked me to call them. But attendance records right for schools use birth names and so we're stuck looking at a list of students and constantly seeing this name, even if we never call it to them, and like after months will have used the wrong name and I'm like I am so sorry, I don't even know why that's in my head. I've never called you that before and I mean the great thing is that students are understanding. But I also make a big deal, like you said, of correcting myself in front of people and making sure that, like that, that's the culture we have is apologize and change, not just brush it off.

Speaker 2:

Yes, reflection and growth absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Reflection and growth indeed, so have you had any experiences where you've had students who maybe don't support the LGBT community? You mentioned something earlier about students maybe having learned something at home.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've had kids like blurt out that's so gay, stuff like that on the playground, maybe in my space when we're playing a game, and I try to call that to attention, I'll bring the kid over, say like, why did you say that's so gay? Well, he had this, well, but why did you say that's so gay when he did this? So, like, I'll try to investigate why a child is associating something negative with gay, and it's usually they hear it online, they hear it on TikTok, they hear it maybe at home and we try to investigate why. And okay, let's find a different word. I've heard kids just not understand what gay meant. They think gay is weird. Well then, we, you know I have a different type of discussion. I haven't really had a child use gay knowingly and as an insult, like as a direct oh you like the same gender kind of insult, or a slur, like well, it's more of saying someone is less than which we can unpack also and we can unpack. Or I've heard someone say, oh look, we're lesbians, we like girls, like well, that's not how that works. Let's have a conversation. You're a boy, like no, you're just saying that to be silly. We're gonna use some words.

Speaker 1:

I'm glad you know what the word means, but let's use it in the right context.

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think it's interesting at that time because I have an eight year old and I'm kind of watching just how social things get and I'm assuming that you deal with this a lot. But I've never taught elementary so I don't really know the genderification of activities and things like oh, you can't do that because you're a boy and you can't do that because you're a girl. Have you experienced stuff like that in your educational background?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so I play women's professional tackle, football. Oh wow, oh, I love it.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome.

Speaker 2:

It's like free therapy.

Speaker 1:

It really is. I love how you just like casually drop that in no, but deal up for it.

Speaker 2:

But we've had discussions like yes, girls can play football. Yes, girls can play sports. Yes, girls can also kick butt. No, the WNBA isn't a joke, they're just underfunded. Like we tried to get rid of the gender in sports and just focus on sport is sport? Sport is there for enjoyment. It's there for competitions, for personal growth. There should not be a gender associated with sports, because anyone could do any sport.

Speaker 1:

I agree with that entirely, and it's so interesting to listen to my daughter say like oh yeah, we played football today and it would have been not a thing when I was younger.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah, we have great discussions and one of the kids bring up, oh, did you see this game in the night? We'll say, well, did you see this game also, you know, I'll try to bring up. I said, oh well, this person the best athlete of her. Well, I'm a Serena Valilium. She's pretty phenomenal too. So we'll try to like find equal discussions with men and women in sport.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. That got me thinking about something, but it has just slipped my mind. Sports, all right, it's time to move on.

Speaker 2:

I said, we do sometimes bring up. We've had discussions on trans athletes.

Speaker 1:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 2:

And that's always been a tricky discussion. We, usually fifth graders, bring it up, something will hit the news and we'll do warmups and they'll just come up to me and ask hey, what do you think about this example? And we try to bring it back to what the situations they're bringing up are about kids in sport and I don't know about Texas, where you're at, but in Missouri they're working on something like making somewhat like banning trans men or trans women in women's sports. So we'll talk about it being kids, kids playing sports. This person's a child. Let them play.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, if sports is for any gender, if we can, I've literally seen women, young women, on the football teams here in Texas, which is huge, because Texas is huge about football.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, culture.

Speaker 1:

It is a big part of the culture, and so to have young women playing on these teams. If young women can play on these teams, what does it matter?

Speaker 2:

Yes, exactly, I mean, when I play football, we play against trans women also, and we'll destroy them just as we destroy the person next to them. It doesn't matter who's wind up against us, you're still our competition 100%.

Speaker 1:

I find it so interesting because here in Texas there are still some things that are like gendered when it comes to sports, which is really weird for me. One is volleyball. Like women play volleyball, but we have men and women doing wrestling teams. Yeah, and I was just like men can't play volleyball. Like what's up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, all that, trust me nuts. Yeah, I mean, I've been through some amazing men's volleyball games and they are just as enjoyable. Men can do them, they're just capable.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's such an interesting thing to be so specific about. Yes, so let's talk a little bit about why you chose to get into education, because it is definitely a labor of love.

Speaker 2:

It is. I had some phenomenal teachers growing up, Teachers that believed in me. Okay, I was a really shy, quiet like, sat in the back of the room, never raised my hand, never spoke out kind of kid. I was very anxious. I didn't have a whole lot of friends but like my teachers tried so hard to make me feel loved and included and I just I wanted to be that person for someone else. So I used to actually hate PE class. I had some real jerks for PE teachers when I was itty-bitty and I remember loving the class itself. I loved playing games, I loved competition, I loved sport, I loved being active. But because I was a top athlete in my class, I felt like I just I felt that certain kind of way about my teachers. It wasn't until I was in high school where I had a weightlifting coach. I took weightlifting because I didn't want to take PE, because I hated PE. That's how you get around that. But I had this weightlifting coach and he inspired me. Like he was just so kind to me. I was one of only two girls in the class and he would cheer me on. He made like he'd say you know, thanks for coming today, I'm glad you're here. Let's go see what you can do today. But just like I just felt so encouraged and so loved and I remember like how that made me feel about a subject that I hated, All of a sudden I loved and I wanted to be that person for a kid who might have a similar experience with him as me. I wanted to be that positive person and create that positive PE experience.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. I think that is so interesting as well, because teachers can be so impactful with your interest in a subject as a student Like. I remember having a really phenomenal eighth grade history teacher and then just loving history after that. And if it wasn't for her, I don't even know that I'd be where I am, because I initially thought I was gonna be a social studies teacher when I decided to go into teaching. So here we are. But I think it's so interesting how, in your experience, the teachers made you feel you didn't like the environment. You just loved the content.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

And so I think it's so cool that later on you were able to connect with just loving that so much that you wanted to bring that environment and tie it in with the content for students in the future. So that's pretty phenomenal, because sometimes those bad teachers can be debilitating. They really can?

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. I'm also a former band nerd, such as yourself. Yeah, we're a type, that's for sure. But for me, marching band was also one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life. I still have my French horn. I still have those memories. I still like, if I hear marching band practice, my heart still, like, skips a beat. I still have that energy and, honestly, it's because of the teachers I had. It's wild how great teachers can give us these lasting memories and these lasting identifiers we have in ourselves.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. So we're getting towards the interview. I have two questions for you to kind of wrap things up. The first one is what advice would you give to a new teacher who may not know whether they should be their authentic self in their classroom?

Speaker 2:

To me, it's find your people. Every building is gonna have someone who is gonna be an ally or at least has an open heart and is willing to listen. For me, once you have your people, once you have your allies and you can identify, that's your support. Maybe you have an ignorant parent or an ignorant situation or just an uncomfortable situation. You wanna just talk or scheme or something. Finding your people in your building are gonna have your back or sounding boards you can vent or cry or whatever. To Finding your people honestly for me is the first step. And then, as you gain more people in your corner, that's how you change the school climate. That's how you get more comfortable being who you are and representing yourself to the staff. You got to find your people. They're gonna give you your confidence.

Speaker 1:

I agree and I think that, honestly, that advice could go to anybody, whether whether you are talking about being your authentic self in the classroom or just Going into a classroom for the first year. That first year can be real lonely.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1:

Make sure that you find your people, because I think that is incredibly important and it's one of the things that got me to Continue was, once I finally found my people, I was like, oh, I enjoy my job, like I'm not just a slave to work or I'm just not just a glutton for punishment. I guess the constantly working I'm making fun right, I had interactions. I had other adults that I can talk with and bounce ideas off of, but also, just like Sometimes you need someone to vet to who?

Speaker 2:

understand.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and then for my final question as LGBTQ plus adults, or even our allies, how can we help move the needle in Public education towards inclusivity? There are a lot of laws being thrown around over several states in the US right now, so what are some things that you can think of based off of your experience in Missouri?

Speaker 2:

Also. The first one is get out and vote, get educated. Know what's happening, your local elections. Vote in your local elections. Look who's in your school board. School boards have so much say in how we run our lives in education, how we represent ourselves. Education Know your board members. Who is gonna support you, who's a butthead? Get involved in your union, because they're also going to support you. When I look at more building level, for me, just being myself, being my authentic self if you're able to safely in your building, just being visible, is going to give kids more confidence. Once kids have a positive association with the queer community, they're going to grow out to be more open-minded adults who aren't gonna pass harmful legislation, who aren't going to say harmful things, who aren't going to be toxic. So being a role model for kids who are questioning themselves or maybe figuring some things out, and just giving those kids just so much care and love and support so they can be themselves Also, that's how you change everything. Kids gotta have that positive role model. They have to see themselves reflected in Adults. See themselves as successful adults that are queer. We need more queer educators, more queer educators that are out, who are proud. Posts up signs in your classroom. I've got pride flight bunting. In my office, I have a rainbow lanyard. I have a black lives matter sign in my office because I want my kids to feel supported. I want my kids who maybe don't have a A queer adult in their life to see queer representation, knowing that we're here for you if you do question yourself.

Speaker 1:

I agree with that 100%. I think that it would have been game-changing for us as it as people in the 90s growing up, to have Just a knowledge that queer people existed beyond Some stereotypes. I think for For you and I. I'm guessing, because of the timeline, we're about the same age and so my only References were Jack and Will from Well and Grace. Yep and then yours were probably, you know.

Speaker 2:

Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell. That was it.

Speaker 1:

That's that's was our available representation, and and so I think that representation is so important and I encourage all you, all who are out there who are considering being an educator, but maybe worried about being a queer educator, do it because we need you, the kids need you, and I'm not going to say this going to be easy, every location is going to be different, but find your space and find your people, as you just mentioned, absolutely. Thank you so much for joining me today. I've really gotten well, really enjoyed getting to know you and and I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much, brian. It's been so much fun. Thanks for having me on. It's my pleasure indeed, and thank you all for joining us on this episode of teaching while queer. Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of teaching while queer. If you haven't done so already, please consider subscribing on your favorite rss feed and sharing the podcast with your friends and family. New episodes will come out every other week during the school year. If you're interested in joining us on this teaching while queer podcast, please email us at teachingwhilequeerpodcast at gmailcom. Have a great day.

Katelynn Hartman-GeierProfile Photo

Katelynn Hartman-Geier

Teacher

Professional Life: I spent the first 3 years of my teaching career as a paraprofessional working with students with Autism. This helped me find my current position as an elementary PE/health teacher. I have been in my current role for 6 years and absolutely love it. I am out to the staff in my building and am honest about who I am if a student asks. I present as more androgynous and this has lead to some great discussions about gender stereotypes. I am also a VEX IQ Robotics coach and Girls on the Run coach.

Personal Life: My wife (Sam) and I have been married for 3 years. We have 3 cats (Huck, Saywer, and Miso) and live in the St. Louis area. I play professional women's tackle football, enjoy hiking, backpacking, gardening, weight lifting, and true crime.

Queer Life: I suspected I was a lesbian when I was in 2nd grade or so, but I didn't have the language to express what I suspected. My family is very Catholic and it was the early 90s. I started to connect the dots when I was in college, but still felt like I couldn't live authentically. I came out when I was 25 (2015) and began dating my wife that same year. I identify as cisgender and use she/her pronouns.