LONDON — Britain’s high court has upheld a teaching ban on a Christian educator who told pupils lifestyle of gay people was “disgusting and a sin.”
A judge on Friday rejected an appeal by Robert Haye, a former science teacher at Deptford Green School in London, who in 2010 told pupils aged 15-16 that, according to the Bible, the way homosexual people lived was disgusting and a sin.
Nev Ayling, via The Guardian
Haye, a Seventh-day Adventist, was dismissed from Deptford after a complaint by a teaching assistant triggered an investigation, and was subsequently prohibited from teaching at any school or junior college after the Education Secretary backed a decision of regulatory body The Teaching Agency (UK’s Dept. for Education), reported the Guardian.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
The court rejected Haye’s appeal, saying the ban was justified because Haye had shown lack of insight when he made his “inappropriate” comments and was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
Haye can apply to return to the classroom after two years. But he said after his high court defeat, he thought his teaching career in the UK was over because he was not prepared to give up his religious beliefs – and the right to express them – in order to teach again.
The judge sided with a Deptford Green policy that teachers were expected to present positive information on lesbians, gays and bisexuals “to enable students to challenge derogatory stereotypes and prejudice.”
