An English maths teacher suspended for calling a transgender boy a "girl" has spoken out against the school's "liberal, Leftish agenda".
Joshua Sutcliffe, a maths teacher from Oxfordshire, told the unnamed teenager and his friend "well done girls" when he saw them working hard, reports the Daily Mail. The pupil corrected him and he immediately apologised, and thought that was the end of it.
Six weeks later however he was suspendered, and now faces misconduct charges of "misgendering".
"I was absolutely shocked to be told by the head that I was under investigation. I didn't know what was happening. It was surreal, Kafkaesque," he told the paper.
"I had always tried to respect the pupil and keep a professional attitude as well as my integrity, but it seemed to me that the school was trying to force me to adhere to its liberal, Leftish agenda."
He said the school had never given any instructions on how to address students, and had always used the student's chosen name. But, he told the Mail, as a Christian he avoided calling the pupil a boy - and to make him do so would be a breach of his own human rights.
"I have balanced these factors by using the pupil's chosen name, and although I did not intentionally refer to the pupil as a 'girl', I do not believe it is unreasonable to call someone a girl if they were born a girl."
The pupil's parents said they would not have complained to the school if they didn't also believe Mr Sutcliffe was picking on their child, holding him back for detention regularly.
Mr Sutcliffe used to run a Bible class during school lunchtimes which was shut down after he told a student marriage was only meant to be between a man and a woman.
The school declined to comment when asked by the paper.
Newshub.
