A teacher is suing his school – claiming his Christian faith requires him to misgender a transgender student.
Maths teacher Joshua Sutcliffe, from Oxford, had repeatedly refused to refer to the transgender boy by his preferred gender.
The teacher was suspended from Cherwell School after the pupil – whose identity is being kept private – complained that Mr Sutcliffe repeatedly referred to him as female.
Mr Sutcliffe refused to agree to respect the pupil’s gender, and in a letter to the school insisted his faith required him to misgender the transgender boy.
He wrote: “As a Christian, I do not share your belief in the ideology of Transgenderism. I do not believe that young children should be encouraged to self-select a ‘gender’ which may be different from their biological sex; or that everyone at school should adjust their behaviour to accommodate such a ‘transition’; or that people should be punished for lack of enthusiasm about it.
“Implementation of these ideas is detrimental to the welfare of children, which I believe should be a paramount consideration.”
The teacher launched legal action this week through the Christian Legal Centre, the legal wing of anti-LGBT activist group Christian Concern.
Christian Concern has lobbied against LGBT discrimination protections, same-sex adoptions and legal rights for gay couples, while defending gay ‘cure’ therapy
But media outlets including the BBC, The Sun and the Daily Mail once again failed to mention the group’s fringe anti-LGBT beliefs while republishing a Christian Concern press release about its latest legal action.
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