A teenage boy has sparked a debate about free speech after he was thrown out of class for saying there are only two genders.
The 17-year-old from Aberdeenshire used his phone to record how he was reprimanded by his Personal and Social Education teacher, who claimed he was “not very inclusive”.
The teen was later suspended for three weeks.
Acceptable opinions
The unnamed teacher incorrectly asserted that there are more than two genders “by law” and this was “national school authority policy”.
He dismissed the pupil’s challenge that such a policy is “not scientific whatsoever”, stating “not every policy is scientific”.
Although he said the student was entitled to his opinion, he also told him: “keep that opinion to your own house – not in this school”.
The teacher added that the authority “is very clear” that people are not to discriminate. The boy responded that he was not discriminating, but simply stating that there are only two genders, and that “anything else is a personal identification”.
‘Dangerous’
One of the boy’s friends told the Mail on Sunday: “He decided to film the teacher because he wanted to show what was going on in schools today for simply stating there are only two genders.
“He has nothing against anyone who identifies as LGBTQ, but completely disagrees that there are more than two genders and that it’s a social construct.
“He believes telling kids that boys are girls and girls are boys is a very dangerous thing and wanted to get his views across to the teacher. His view is that scientifically there are only two genders.
“This new gender theory that there are unlimited genders is something that should be discussed and debated – not just thrown into a class discussion and if you disagree you get kicked out of the room.”
The Independent reported that the student was suspended for posting the video footage online, rather than for his comments.