Teen sues private school after being told being trans was ‘a phase’
A transgender teenager is suing a top private school over being told by staff that he was going through a “phase”.
The 16-year-old trans boy says he was made to dress in female uniform and that staff at the £13,000 a year Hereford Cathedral School said he was going through a “phase”.
He had already been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and had begun wearing male clothes.
The lawsuit seeks £30,000 damages for the alleged treatment.
But the school contests the allegations, saying that staff were unaware of the student’s gender dysphoria.
The boy’s mother is suing the school for discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 and for “injury to his feelings”.
Judge Ian Avent heard this week that the boy has suffered “a lot of psychological and emotional problems over the past two years”.
The case, announced earlier this year, reached the Royal Courts of Justice in London this week.
Judge Avent said that the boy was removed from the school “due to an alleged failure by the school to support him in his request to dress as a boy”.
“This was after his GP had supported that request,” the boy’s family alleges.
He added that there is a “significant conflict” over whether the school had been “truly aware of his gender reassignment issue, and whether it discriminated against him by treating him less favourably than others”.
The school argues that “there wasn’t sufficient material for them to be properly aware of the gender reassignment issue – and that in any event, it did not discriminate”.
The boy and his family allege that the staff were totally aware of the boy’s gender dysphoria.
Judge Avant has made preparatory orders for the full hearing of the boy’s claims.
It is expected that a hearing will take place next week.
