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Rhode Island's 2017 teacher of the year's photo with Donald Trump goes viral
An Oval Office photograph showing Rhode Island’s 2017 teacher of the year has gone viral, after he posed with a fan and a LGBTQ pin besides Donald Trump and the first lady.
Nikos Giannopoulos, who teaches at the Beacon charter high school for the arts, was invited to the White House in celebration of his accolade.
On Facebook he posted the commemorative photo, taken in April by Shealah Craighead and showing him holding a black lace fan and wearing a rainbow pin.
He added the caption: "Rhode Island Teacher of the Year 2017 meets the 45th President of the United States. That's all.”
He accompanied his post with multiple rainbow emojis.
The photo has been "liked" 13,000 times, and shared almost 4,000 times.
“It was a great honour to be received in the Oval Office, and it really meant a lot to me that I was able to express myself authentically and represent for my community,” said Mr Giannopoulos.
“For my trip to the White House, I wore a rainbow pin to represent my gratitude for the LGBTQ community that has taught me to be proud, bold, and empowered by my identity — even when circumstances make that difficult,” he wrote.
“I wore a blue jacket with a bold print and carried a black lace fan to celebrate the joy and freedom of gender nonconformity."
In the post, which does not mention Mr Trump by name, Mr Giannopoulos refers the president as “the person behind the desk.”
“When I think back to my time in the White House, I will not remember the person seated at the desk,” he wrote.
Instead, the teacher said he will remember other teachers who have stood up to “structural barriers of race, gender, socioeconomic status, home language, immigration status, sexual orientation, and much more.”
Mr Giannopoulos’s photo comes as the Trump administration continues to find itself under intense scrutiny for its handling of LGBTQ issues.
In February it was reported that only persuasion by Ivanka Trump prevented the president from signing an executive order undoing Barack Obama's LGBTQ protection laws.
Betsy DeVos, the education secretary who met Mr Giannopoulos during his visit, has not committed to banning discrimination against LGBTQ students in private school, despite saying schools that receive federal funding should follow the law during a Senate hearing in June.
Unlike his predecessor, Mr Trump has yet to acknowledge June as LGBTQ Pride month.
Mr Giannopoulos said he did not have time to speak with Mr Trump.
“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,” he writes.
“I would have told him that queer lives matter and anti-LGBTQ policies have a body count.”
Mr Giannopoulos told NPR that his partner bought the fan as a souvenir in Venice.
“I’m extremely campy and it’s a popular prop of mine,” he said.
“I’ve taken it with me all over the country whenever I go on vacation, so that’s why I had it.”
“The fan represents self-acceptance and being unabashedly myself in a society that’s not always ready to accept that.”