Springyzone, it’s my position that had the teacher been imprisoned on the grounds of refusing to use the “their/they” pronoun as described, it would be a misuse of the criminal justice system to say the least.
Had he been dismissed on such grounds, equally problematic. Could that really be justified? That’s a topic separate to the imprisonment issue.
However, it certainly seems on the basis of the evidence that the teacher’s behaviour has possibly given cause for dismissal. Was he not focusing on and delivering the actual teaching? In light of his continuing to go to the school subsequently, in breach of an order (and apparently - reading between the lines - creating a nuisance / public disturbance there)… and refusing to agree to stay away from the school as directed by the judge, and also in view of repeatedly and loudly interrupting the judge in court, this is no longer an issue of beliefs and choice as initially presented.
I don’t dismiss Sky News as having no valid perspectives to offer… because unless we are willing to consider a wide variety of sources and views, we can never even approach objectivity or truth. But here the story has clearly left out a good deal of information. The teacher isn’t imprisoned at present because of his religious views or consideration of pronouns or world perspective; he’s imprisoned because of contempt of court and that order would vacate if he agreed to stay away from the school.
So… a much wider issue here! Interesting…
