Joshua James Sutcliffe v Secretary of State for Education
| Judge | Mr Justice Pepperall |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 1878 (Admin) |
| Date | 25 July 2024 |
| Counsel | Michael Phillips,Iain Steele |
| Year | 2024 |
| Court | King's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE PEPPERALL
Approved Judgment
Sutcliffe v. Secretary of State for Education
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 1878 (Admin)
Case No: AC-2023-LON-001788
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING’S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Date: 25 July 2024
Before :
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE PEPPERALL
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Between :
JOSHUA JAMES SUTCLIFFE Appellant
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SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATIONRespondent
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Michael Phillips (instructed by Camerons Solicitors LLP) for the Appellant
Iain Steele (instructed by Government Legal Department) for the Respondent
Hearing date: 1 May 2024
Further submissions: 3 May 2024
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Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down remotely on 25 July 2024
by circulation to the parties and by release to the National Archives.
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE PEPPERALL
Approved Judgment
Sutcliffe v. Secretary of State for Education
THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE PEPPERALL:
1.This appeal by a teacher against the Secretary of State’s decision to make an order
prohibiting him from teaching raises issues as to the conflict between the teacher’s
Christian faith and his professional duties to the children in his class. The laws that
protect a person’s freedom of thought, conscience, religion and expression apply to
teachers just as much as anyone else. A teacher’s right to believe that no one can self-
identify as a different gender and that homosexuality is a sin against God is protected
by law, but does not entitle the teacher to fail to treat transgender, gay and lesbian
pupils with anything short of the dignity and respect with which all schoolchildren must
be treated or justify a failure to safeguard the best interests and wellbeing of such
children.
2.This case is not about a teacher who accidentally failed to follow a school’s policy of
referring to a transgender pupil by the child’s chosen pronouns or even about a teacher
who reconciled his religious convictions with such policy by choosing to avoid
pronouns altogether and referring to the child by name. Rather, it is about a teacher who
deliberately used female pronouns to refer to a transgender male pupil both in the
classroom and then on national television in such a way that he would be “outed”
without any apparent regard for a vulnerable child who was thereby caused significant
distress. Further, it is about a teacher who told his class that homosexuality is a sin and
implied that homosexuals might be cured through God without any apparent regard for
the gay and lesbian children in his class and who made them feel that their teacher
regarded them as worthless.
3.Joshua Sutcliffe is a maths teacher and an evangelical Christian who preaches both on
the streets and online. He has strong and sincerely held views rooted in his faith about
gender identity, homosexuality, the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman,
the role of men and women in society, and Islam:
3.1He believes that biological sex is immutable and that people cannot self-identify
as a different gender. He believes that God makes us male or female, and that
what God ordains cannot be changed. He argues that it is wrong to require him or
any other person to refer to a transgender person by their preferred pronouns. He
regards that as a matter of conscience.
3.2He believes that homosexuality is a sin that is contrary to God’s design and to
nature.
3.3He argues that marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman.
3.4He considers that the man is the head of the household who provides for his wife
and children.
3.5He believes that Islam is evil and that Mohammed is a false prophet.
4.Many (including on the evidence of the theologian, Dr Martin Parsons, many other
evangelical Christians) will agree with him on at least some of these points. Many
otherswillvehementlydisagree,and some ofthosewhodisagree willtakedeep
offence. Nevertheless, Mr Sutcliffe’s freedom of thought, conscience and religion is
protected by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Furthermore, his
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