Joshua Sutcliffe has approached the British employment tribunal to look into what he called constructive dismissal and discrimination after he lost his position as a Maths teacher at a state’s school.
Sutcliffe was investigated by the school where he worked as a Maths teacher after a transgendered student complained that the teacher referred to him using the wrong gender.
Sutcliffe said he misgendered the student by accident and apologised after the student became angry. He said he was made to undergo a disciplinary investigation after he said “well done girls” to a group that included a student who identifies as a boy.
He says the week-long investigation found he had “misgendered” the pupil and “contravened the school’s equality policy.”
Sutcliffe is now suing the school for constructive dismissal and discrimination.
He claims the school has “systematically and maliciously” breached his rights and he had left his job as it had made it impossible for him to continue working there.
In a letter to the head teacher 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.”
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.
The school refused a request by BBC for comment saying the matter was a private one.
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