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A UK math teacher claims she was fired for refusing to affirm the gender identity of her teenage students.
Math teacher Kevin Lister is taking legal action against his former employer, alleging wrongful termination.
Lister said he was dismissed from a British university on Sept. 9. He said the series stemmed from failing to refer to the 17-year-old, a biologically female student, with male pronouns without parental permission. after the events of
The Epoch Times chose not to identify the university and reached out for a response.
“Strange and crazy situation”
“It’s a weird, crazy situation,” Lister told the Epoch Times.
“Basically, I get a student who’s doing perfectly well to get out of bed and say, ‘I’m going to be a man,’ and come to school and tell me and all her friends, peers, and the entire college environment.” And we are not allowed to question this at all,” he said.
When the student asked him to use a different pronoun, Lister approached the university’s protection officer, claiming he was told that parents would not be informed of the student’s desire to identify as male in the classroom.
He added that the university’s transgender policy does not give staff the option to question it, and that “it is reasonably clear that staff must consent to a student’s coerced speech.” rice field.
“I did not refuse to use her pronouns. I said I wanted parental consent before doing so. Without it, I did not feel it was appropriate to move forward as a teacher.” I didn’t,” Lister said.
A few weeks after the pronoun column, students wanted to participate in the Women’s Mathematical Olympiad, and Lister wrote her real name on the blackboard. The university used the term “dead name”. This is the term used to refer to a transgender or nonbinary person by the name they used before they “transitioned.”
Students filed transphobic allegations against him, and he was suspended and escorted from school grounds in February pending an investigation. A disciplinary hearing at the university upheld three complaints regarding his preferred name and his/his use of pronouns, upholding that he exposed students to “transphobic discrimination.”
In a dismissal letter seen by the Epoch Times, the university’s vice principal said, “By referring to other transgender students by their chosen names and pronouns, you will respect the dignity of other trans students going forward.” I was not reassured by his answer,” he added.
“All the accusations against me have always been full of falsehoods, lies and distortions of the truth,” Lister said.
forced speech
His other major concern is that this drives “coach and horse” through the concept of free speech.
The teacher, a father of two, added that he believes transgender ideology is “dangerous.”
“What kind of spirit do you instill in young people?” he added.
“If only I could look back every morning and have everyone say this nonsense: Boys are girls, girls are boys, what next? Is there? It’s a step into dystopian hell.”
Former Attorney General and now Home Affairs Minister Suera Braverman said in May that schools would not have to accept students who want to change their gender identity, use certain pronouns or have children wear uniforms of a different gender. He said he had no legal obligation to allow it.
Simon Vazey contributed to this report.
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Owen Evans is a UK-based journalist with a particular interest in civil liberties and free speech, covering stories from a wide variety of countries.
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