How Rhode Island's Nikos Giannopoulos Makes America Great

Right now, you may be asking yourself, “Who the heck is Nikos Giannopoulos?” and “Why does it matter?” Nikos Giannopoulos is largely well-known for being the reportedly “sassy”, Rhode Island State Teacher of the Year who popped his black, Victorian lace fan and sported a nose ring in his recent, celebratory photo-op with the president. Mr. G, as his students call him, is a “secondary inclusion teacher” at the Beacon Charter High School for the Arts in Woonsocket, according to the school’s website. His profile also relates that “Mr. Giannopoulos is a firm believer that the arts, strong community engagement, and differentiated instruction are essential components of a positive learning environment.” Quite an introduction, I know.  Now, to the more pertinent question you posed: Why does it matter? Excellent question! Let’s get to it.

Most articles reporting on Mr. Giannopoulos focus on how he sent an intentionally pointed message to Trump about LGBTQ inclusivity. Headlines from WaPo and HuffPo respectively read, “A teacher's decision to be 'visibly queer' in his photo with President Trump” or “Gay Teacher Of The Year Fans LGBTQ Pride In Viral Photo With Donald Trump”. Smaller news outlets, like the Providence Journal, also opt to send the same message: “With 'flair,' gay RI Teacher of the Year meets Trump”. Then, there are the opinions coming from conservative leaning media. Kat Shepherd, writing for Dennis Michael Lynch, wrote a piece entitled, “Teacher takes photo with Trump at WH, then disrespects him on Facebook”.

In a nutshell left-leaning news outlets are celebrating the fact that Mr. G stuck it to “the man seated at the desk” (Mr. G’s words). Mr. G donned a rainbow flag pin on the lapel of his “blue jacket with a bold print” as a testament to his empowerment and self-awareness as a member of the LGBTQ community. The right-leaning media had much less to say about the meeting. In fact, the major conservative outlets have not even reported the story. I know. I checked. As of today, Kat Shepherd’s 283-word article (half of which is quotations) stands alone.

So, what exactly is the message the media hopes to send with such bold headlines? After reading through the most popular stories, and trudging through dozens of comment sections (don’t do it), I can attest that the cultivated message seems to be that Trump’s America exists in a dichotomy. You are either on Team Mr. G or Team Mr. T. One cannot possibly exist anywhere in between. Unfortunately, with such intentionally flashy headlines, the media offers no help in uniting the left and right sides. Once again, we are guided to remain stuck in a loop of perpetual ideological insulation. You have your views (which are wrong) and I have mine (which are correct). Be honest with yourself now. How is that healthy?

Let me clarify something before I continue. I am a lesbian (but I go by Angie). My wife and I have been together for three years and married for over a year now. I have been out of the closet since I was seventeen years old, minus the nine years in the military where I had to change the names of the women I dated into men’s names so I wouldn’t get kicked out and stuck with a Dishonorable Discharge. I know how important empowerment and authenticity in the LGBTQ community is. I know how serious the small victories are in everyday situations, let alone the once-in-a-lifetime situations like the one in which Mr. G found himself. Mr. G is awesome and I am super proud of him for being an obviously amazing teacher and fabulously fierce gay man.

What I am less than thrilled about, however, is the media’s incessant need to turn moments of unity, inclusivity, and accomplishment into a hotbed of vitriol and animosity. On April 29th, when Mr. G actually met Mr. Trump, Giannopoulos made no mention of any awkwardness or negativity. He reported to NPR that the president complimented his style and exclaimed immediately how much he loved the fan! That’s it. Although, to be fair, in his Facebook post he did comment on how mechanical and contrived the one-on-one meeting had been, but not the overall event itself.   

Regarding the date of the event, I found only one article that made mention of the ceremony at all prior to Mr. G’s photo going viral June 16th. Mercury News, ironically a Bay Area outlet, published a story on how “weird” and even disgraceful the ceremony under Trump had been compared with previous National Teacher of the Year Award events. Mercury News did not mention the sassy Mr. G at all. I suppose a story where a bold, barrier-busting, fan-toting, empowered gay man meets and upstages the president had to be reserved for June. You know? The one month out of the year where queer folks are exploited by the news for a boost in ratings. What other reason could there be to explain why it took the media 50 days to cultivate this meeting into the contentious feature story it has become. On April 29th, the day of the event, Nikos himself posted a lengthy account on his publicly accessible Facebook page. That story has nearly 1000 comments, and counting, the majority of which are overwhelming supportive.

To return to the question of why any of this matters, I want to emphasize a few things. First, it’s crucial that we all recognize and acknowledge that stories like these are cultivated and manipulated prior to consumption. Shocking, I know. But I mention this fact because people take it for granted that the media accurately reports events as they happen. They do not, and we need to be reminded of this from time to time. Why did it take this story 50 days to blow up? That is nearly two months after the fact. As a news consumer, such patently manipulative and calculated behavior should personally insult you. Here’s why.  

If you’re queer like me, it should upset you that such an accomplishment was relegated to LGBT Pride Month. Meaning, for whatever reason (marketing strategy) Mr. G did not matter until June. I disagree, and so does Mr. G. In fact, I want to know how the media’s manipulation of the virality of Mr. G’s story does not fly in the face of everything he was trying to accomplish when he strutted his flamboyant self into the Oval Office. Recall Nikos’ Facebook post:

“Had I been given the opportunity, I would have told [the president] 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. 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. Each and every queer person has been confronted with cruelty in ways many cannot imagine - verbal and physical abuse from strangers, friends, & even family; politicians callously attacking on our right to love or merely exist in public spaces; legalized discrimination for daring to be who we are. Brutality is a universal part of the queer experience.”

You’re damn right, Mr. G. I just wish your poignantly stated message of inclusivity and empowerment hadn’t been exploited and morphed into a diversity piece that fills a content quota for the disparate news agencies.

Nikos Giannopoulos’ story matters every single day, not only because he is a successful gay man, but because he is a dedicated teacher who genuinely cares about his students. If you don’t believe me, take a look at some of the replies he made to comments on the Facebook post I mentioned earlier:

“Thank you for the kind words. There is great power in being surrounded by a group of hardworking and caring educators! American education is in good hands. :)”

“Our co-teaching relationship has taken a job I loved and made it even more rewarding. I am so proud and honored to have you as a colleague. We get the privilege of helping our students share their stories through the art of filmmaking - what a gift."

“Karen, it means a lot to me to have a department head with whom I see eye to eye. I am so happy to have you running our department and working hard for our kids!”

Seems to me Mr. G found his calling, and America is a better place for it. You want to know what is missing from every single one of Mr. G’s replies to Facebook commenters? Vitriol, rhetoric, and divisive negativity. Thank you for that Mr. G. I wish there was an award for Classiest Gay Man in Rhode Island because you certainly deserve that one too.

TL;DR: Rhode Island Teacher of the Year, Nikos Giannopoulos, makes America great by being authentically Nikos Giannopoulos in April, June, and probably every other month of the year.