A transgender teenager is suing one of England’s top schools after staff there allegedly refused to let him dress in the uniform worn by boys.
The unidentified student, who is 16 and was born female, claims he was discriminated against for wanting to wear trousers at the co-educational Hereford Cathedral School and was essentially forced to leave when his request was denied. He is suing the school, which has annual fees of £13,000 (about $16,500), under the Equality Act.
In a BBC interview the student said: “They didn’t really take it seriously. When I told them that I wasn’t a girl and that it made me very uncomfortable to be addressed as such and to dress as such, they first told me that it was a phase and that I would grow out of it.”
The student’s mother told the broadcaster: “They made my child out to be a freak and someone who would contaminate other students.”
Hereford Cathedral School dates back to at least 1384, making it one of the oldest in the country. It has more than 500 pupils aged between 3 and 18 and has close links with Hereford Cathedral (pictured).
A spokesman for the school said it would defend its actions at any future hearing.
