I Am Not Hiding Who I Am: Teaching, Drag, and the Right to Be Visible | Ep. 221 (with Sarabijit aka Kween Mallika)
Sarabjit “Sam” is an educator, trained pharmacist, classically trained dancer, and drag performer whose work brings together teaching, South Asian culture, queerness, and performance. In this conversation, Sam shares how bringing drag and culturally specific workshops into schools helped them recognize the power of representation—and ultimately helped lead them toward becoming a licensed teacher in Canada.
Sam and Bryan also dig into what happens when educators are expected to separate their professional identities from the rest of their lives. From being asked whether they would hide their public drag profile during a teaching practicum to creating boundaries with students and bringing queer cultural history into the classroom, Sam makes a clear distinction between professionalism and erasing who you are.
In this episode, you will:
- Explore how Sam’s experiences as a South Asian drag performer working with students shaped their decision to pursue teaching and become the representation they rarely saw in schools.
- Hear how Sam responded when their public drag identity became an issue during teacher training and why they refused to hide a legitimate part of their life and work.
- Consider how queer educators can maintain professional boundaries while still showing up authentically, from social media and performance to helping students understand the queer and trans histories behind the language they use.
Sam’s story reminds us that queering education isn’t about asking educators to leave pieces of themselves outside the classroom. It is about creating schools where students and teachers can encounter fuller possibilities for who they are allowed to become—and where representation, boundaries, culture, and joy can exist alongside one another.
Queering Education is a Teaching While Queer podcast centering LGBTQ+ educators and the real-world realities of teaching while queer. We explore queer representation in education, including burnout, tokenism, doxing, visibility, boundaries, and advocacy for inclusive classrooms, safe schools, and anti-bullying practices.
This podcast supports gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, asexual, aromantic, agender, and two-spirit teachers, and addresses how gender identity in schools can be honored to reduce isolation, protect educators, and build community.
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Keywords: Teaching While Queer, queer educators, LGBTQ teachers, inclusive education, gender identity in schools, safe classrooms, anti-bullying strategies, educator burnout, LGBTQ advocacy, queer visibility in education