Teacher axed in trans row sees tribunal case collapse
AN EMPLOYMENT tribunal hearing claims from a Christian teacher that she was sacked over her opposition to a school’s transgender policy has collapsed following comments made online by a panel member.
The messages posted on social media by Jed Purkis were said to demonstrate a ‘significant prejudice against Christians’.
Mr Purkis, a former GMB union officer, also expressed anti-Tory views, referring collectively to the party’s supporters as a ‘tumour’.
The teacher, who cannot be named, was bringing a case against a primary school and Nottinghamshire County Council after she was suspended for refusing to ‘affirm’ an eight-year-old girl who wanted
‘Significant prejudice against Christians’
to be treated as a boy. She was then sacked for gross misconduct after looking up the child on the school’s safeguarding database and sharing the information with her lawyers.
The teacher, who describes herself as a ‘Bible-believing Christian’, said her religion informed her belief that being male or female was an ‘immutable biological fact’. She was concerned the ‘social transition’ would result in ‘irreversible harm’ being caused to the youngster.
The case had been hearing evidence for six days but, late on Monday, all three members of the tribunal in Nottingham, including judge Victoria Butler, recused themselves after the discovery of Mr Purkis’s comments. The hearing will be rescheduled for later in the year.
Responding to a comment that only atheists should be in public office, Mr Purkis posted: ‘Damn right, you won’t catch us killing in the name of our non-god.’ In other posts, he responded to the question, ‘What’s a good collective noun for Tories?’ by saying ‘a tumour of Tories’ and a ‘cess pit of Tories’.
Pavel Stroilov, for the teacher, said Mr Purkis ‘appears to agree with a view which expressly advocates for religious discrimination in public life’. The teacher said it was a delay in receiving justice, ‘but I have to have a fair trial’. The Judicial Office declined to comment.