Christian Joshua Sutcliffe, a former mathematics teacher who taught at The Cherwell School in Oxford, has lost his appeal to have a teaching ban removed against him after he “misgendered” a trans-identifying student. Sutcliffe’s trouble began in 2017 after he refused to refer to a female student who identified as a boy by male pronouns. The UK’s Teaching Regulation Agency determined he had breached his safeguarding duties by refusing to use the trans student’s preferred pronouns and calling homosexuality sinful, determining to ban him from teaching. During Sutcliffe’s appeal, Mr. Justice Pepperall ruled that a teacher must “respect and celebrate the pupils’ personal autonomy,” despite the teacher’s religious convictions. He concluded that, “just because misgendering a transgender pupil might not be unlawful does not mean that it is appropriate conduct for a teacher.”
