A 13-year-old student girl and her friend were called “despicable” on Friday after questioning a fellow student’s identification as a cat, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The young girl asked her fellow student, “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?” which resulted in her being reprimanded by her teacher at Rye College in East Sussex, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The teacher told the young students they would not be allowed back at the school and would be reported to senior leadership if they continued to question their fellow student’s identification.
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A recording of the heated exchange was taken by some pupils involved in the incident, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The recording details the exchange in which students can be heard questioning the validity of their fellow student’s identification.
“If they want to identify as a cat or something then they are genuinely unwell – crazy,” one of the students can be heard saying. The teacher then asks the two girls, “where did you get this idea from that there are only two genders?”
The teacher then added, “gender is not linked to the parts that you were born with, gender is about how you identify.” The young girls responded to this that they don’t agree and that if you’re a boy, you have a penis, and if you’re a girl, you have a vagina.
“You are talking about the fact that cisgender is the norm, that you identify with the sexual organ you were born with, that’s basically what you’re saying, which is really despicable,” the teacher told the students. She then insinuated that they were homophobic.
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The parents of the student who took the recording expressed anger online about the teacher shutting down the debate, according to the Daily Telegraph.
“We are committed to offering our pupils an inclusive education,” Rye College said in a statement. “Teachers endeavor to ensure that pupils’ views are listened to and encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers also aim to answer questions sensitively and honestly.”
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