In the crazy world which we live in, a teacher was suspended and may even be fired from his school after he referred to a transgender pupil as a girl, although the student identifies as a boy.
Joshua Sutcliffe, a Christian pastor from Oxford, admitted the…”crime” of saying “Well done girls” when addressing a group of girls that included the student.
He was, apparently forced by the circumstances, to describe what he said as a “slip of the tongue”, but to his credit, he was brave enough to speak his mind in these dangerous times for democracy, and stated that he believes biological sex is defined at birth.
The school said it would be “inappropriate” to comment.
Mr. Sutcliffe, who teaches mathematics to children aged between 11 and 18, said the…”incident” took place on 2 November.
A week-long(!) investigation found he had “misgendered” the pupil.
The maths teacher, who is also a pastor at the Christ Revelation church in Oxford, said he tried to balance his beliefs with the need to treat the pupil sensitively.
He claimed he did this by avoiding the use of gender-specific pronouns and by referring to the pupil by name.
“While the suggestion that gender is fluid conflicts sharply with my Christian beliefs… I have never looked to impose my convictions on others”, he said.
He also stated that he had apologised to the student, but said he did not consider it “unreasonable” to call someone a girl “if they were born a girl”.
The Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting Mr Sutcliffe, said he faced an internal disciplinary hearing on Wednesday.
The state academy school where he is employed said the matter was confidential.
However, it said it took equality and discrimination seriously and had a range of governor-approved policies in place to ensure it acted lawfully.
LGBT charity Stonewall said “pupils must be protected” even if teachers may hold “different opinions” about sexuality and gender identity.
It did not want to comment on the case involving Mr Sutcliffe, but it said “children should always feel included and accepted for who they are”.
Source: BBC, Daily Mail
