A teacher has been placed on administrative leave after deliberately misgendering a pupil.
Per WTOP News, Byron 'Tanner' Cross, a gym teacher at Leesburg Elementary School in Loudoun County in Virginia, claims that his religion prevents him from referring to a transgender pupil in one of his classes by their preferred pronouns.
Take a look at this video of the teacher:In a meeting with the school board held on Tuesday, May 25, Cross cited his religious beliefs and a 60 Minutes episode about young people who had chosen to "de-transition" when justifying his decision to misgender the child.
Per WTOP, Cross stated:
"I am speaking out of love for those who are suffering from gender dysphoria.
"I'm a teacher but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it's against my religion.
"It's lying to a child, it's abuse to a child, and it's sinning against our God."
Cross's actions directly contradicted Loudoun County school district draft policy 8040, which clearly states:
"LCPS staff shall allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence."
According to Fox News, as a result of this, Principal Shawn Lacey confirmed in an email to staff and parents that Cross had been placed on leave with pay, writing:
"I'm contacting you to let you know that one of our physical education teachers, Tanner Cross, is on leave beginning this morning. In his absence, his duties will be covered by substitute staff already working in our building.
"Because this involves a personnel matter, I can offer no further information."
However, the nonprofit legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom has sided with Cross, in a letter addressed to the Loudoun County school district.
In it, ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer wrote: "Public schools have no business compelling teachers to express ideological beliefs that they don't hold.
"This isn't just about a pronoun; LCPS wants to compel teachers to endorse and advance an ideology. LCPS favors certain beliefs, and it wants to force Tanner to cry uncle and endorse them as well.
"It's neither legal nor constitutional, and neither was the school's move to place Tanner on leave."
