A teacher at Bishop Justus Church of England in Bromley, South London was fired after 12 years of service for refusing to teach LGBTQ+ topics that were “against her beliefs of faith.”
Glawdys Leger, 43, was a modern foreign languages teacher to years seven and eight students. Leger claims that the lessons she was asked to teach were “extreme and politically partisan.”
She claims that she was treated like a “dangerous criminal” by both the school and the Aquinas Church of England Education Trust after refusing to teach LGBTQ+ lessons that had been added onto the religious education curriculum.
Leger says that she aimed to teach students the “christian side” of LGBTQ+ beliefs and believed that students saw the one-sided view of such issues and wanted to change that. This comes as a rather ironic action, as many far-right conservatives follow the belief that queer people “force” their identity onto children.
During one of her lessons, the former teacher had revealed to her students that she did not believe in transgender ideology and went on to tell students that in the eyes of Christians, sex outside of marriage is a sin. To add onto the problematic teacher’s insensitive comments, she allegedly also told students that God only sees people for their “birth gender” and went on to say that transgender people were “confused” and being LGBTQ+ was a sin. This was according to one parental complaint.
As transgender people throughout the globe face harsh legislations and constant discrimination, topics like these put the lives of trans people in a constant state of vulnerability. Unfortunately, not much has been done to protect our amazing community, as they face the world with constant fear of the unknown.
As a result of these anti-LGBTQ teachings, she was reported to the Teaching Regulation agency, after upsetting students.
After an internal investigation, and a disciplinary hearing, the teacher was let go, with the agency citing that her conduct was against the morals of British fundamentals and followed a lack of tolerance to those with different beliefs.
This comes as a win for our community, and though a small one, it shines light on holding those who spread hatred accountable.
