A teacher in a Church of England (CofE) school was found guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct” for expressing Christian views on gender and sexuality in a religious-education class.
England’s Teaching Regulatory Agency (TRA) found Glawdys Leger guilty of “misconduct of a serious nature” whose “actions were at risk of upsetting pupils.” Leger’s comments were “inappropriate,” and her refusal to teach one lesson because of its heavy pro-LGBT content “resulted in pupils not receiving a balanced curriculum,” the agency wrote.
Progressive Education
Leger, 43, was a specialist teacher in modern foreign languages for 12 years, the last five of those at Bishop Justus CofE School in Bromley.
According to Christian Concern (CC), whose legal arm, the Christian Legal Centre, represented Leger:
After starting work at Bishop Justus CofE school in 2017, Ms. Leger had seen a continuous increase in the promotion of LGBTQI identities and other contentious ethical and political issues within the so-called Christian school.
As well as languages lessons, Ms. Leger also had to teach RE [religious education], but discovered that teaching material included extreme content on gender identity with themes that begin to suggest to children that humans can be born in the wrong body.
Materials for RE entitled “Who Am I” included introducing children in Year 7 [sixth grade] to gender identities such as pansexual, asexual, intersex and transgender.
The lessons were also designed to encourage “allyship,” which the materials described as: “Typically a non-queer person who supports and advocates for the queer community.”
One of the presentation slides declared: “Equality is a strength, Diversity is our power, Inclusion is a necessity.”
Teachers were also forced to show a film commissioned by an LGBT-activist organization.
In addition, the school was promoting abortion and Critical Race Theory, further alarming Leger.
Peeved Pupil Punishes Pedagogue
CC says Leger discussed her concerns with her superiors, who “brushed aside and ignored” them.
With no other recourse, and “concerned that pupils were being taught only one narrative and that parents were being kept in the dark,” Leger decided to present the Christian perspective. “During a discussion on LGBTQI issues in February 2022,” penned CC, Leger told students “that she did not believe in transgender ideology, that Christians believe sex outside of marriage is sin and that as a Christian you need to ‘live your life for God.’” In so doing, the group noted, Leger was expressing the official positions of the CofE.
After a single student, via her mother, complained about Leger’s remarks, the school fired Leger for gross misconduct in May 2022.
On top of that, the Aquinas CofE Education Trust, which oversees the Bishop Justus CofE School, referred Leger’s case to the TRA for potential further discipline up to and including the loss of her teaching license. Their reasoning:
She upset one pupil by sharing her views on LBGTQ+ and she went on to share many more in our investigation and subsequent hearings, such that we were not certain whether she would continue to share those views with young people.
Because one student was, as her mother testified to the TRA, made to feel “between uncomfortable and traumatized” by Leger’s expression of Christian teaching, Leger’s job, and potentially her entire career, were taken from her. Little wonder, then, that Leger said she felt as if she had been “treated like a criminal.”
Trial and Error
The TRA considered various statements Leger was alleged to have made, such as that being LGBTQ+ is “not fine,” that God should come before being LGBTQ+, and that “God will love you more if you are not LGBTQ+.” The agency determined that Leger had uttered most of the alleged remarks, though Leger was allowed to elaborate on them in testimony. It also found that, as she had maintained throughout the hearing, she did not say God would love non-LGBTQ+ people more.
Leger testified:
I am certain that I have not shown, and never would show, any hatred or lack of love towards LGBT people.
True compassion and love is [sic] to be able to speak the truth to people irrespective of their sexuality. I would never discriminate against anyone, but the school was compelling teachers to promote, teach and celebrate these issues, which I could not do.
For Christians it is important to remain an ally of God rather than being an ally of things that are against God’s Laws and Commandments. It is not “inclusive” if pupils at a Christian school are barred from understanding what Christian belief is and means on these very serious issues.
The TRA ruled in December that Leger was guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct.” In view of other testimony — including that of the mother whose complaint started the whole thing, who said she hadn’t wanted it to “get this far” — the agency recommended against revoking Leger’s teaching license. The results of the investigation, however, were placed in Leger’s teaching record, which potential future employers might review.
The Scarlet “C”
Leger, who said she was “relieved to not be banned from teaching in the UK,” lamented:
It is like I have had a “hate crime” recorded against my name which will be kept on the system to highlight that I have Christian beliefs on these issues.
The message from the TRA is that Christian teachers must not only be silent about their beliefs, but they must actively promote LGBT ideology or risk being severely punished and even losing their careers.