(Ynet) What began as a mission of inclusion for Uziel Inácio-Steck, a 43-year-old Jewish gay teacher from Brazil, ended in isolation, harassment and trauma. His story — reported by Thorsten Schmitz in Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung — sheds light on what many educators describe as the failure of integration in some of Berlin’s immigrant-heavy neighborhoods.
According to the report, Inácio-Steck moved to Berlin in 2010 and has taught for nine years at the Karl-Bolle elementary school in Moabit, a working-class district of 85,000 residents.
About 95% of the school’s students are from immigrant families, largely from Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinian territories. Most come from conservative households where homosexuality is taboo — or outright illegal.
