A 17-year-old Scottish student claims he was told to leave his class after saying there are only “two genders” – a statement which earned him a reprimand from the teacher, whose reaction he secretly recorded on camera.
The three-minute-long video shows the teacher at the Aberdeenshire secondary school explaining that he was asked to leave the class because his opinion on genders is “not very inclusive” and out of line with “national school authority policy.”
The student then turns that argument on the 56-year-old teacher, telling him it’s also “not very inclusive” to prevent him from airing his own personal views on the subject. When the teen says that claims of more than two genders are “not scientific whatsoever,” the teacher tells him “not every policy is scientific.”
As the debate heats up, the teacher tells the boy he was “clearly given an opportunity not to pursue” his point, but did so anyway. “Could you please keep that opinion to your own house? Not in this school,” the teacher asks.
The verbal spat continues, with the student accusing the staff member of wasting 30 minutes of his time. The teacher then advises him to “make an official complaint.”
“I was simply saying there are two genders – male and female. Anything else is a personal identification,” the boy continues.
Media reports said the teen had been disciplined for sharing the video online without consent, but not for its content.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Aberdeenshire Council told the Scottish Daily Mail that the video didn’t give the full context of the discussion. The council’s aim, he said, is to “foster good relations between those who have protected characteristics and those who don’t” and to support an “inclusive environment for all.”