The teacher said he would not "affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa."

An elementary school teacher in Virginia has been placed on leave after saying that he would refuse to refer to trans students by their preferred pronouns. Byron 'Tanner' Cross, who teaches gym (or PE if you were born this side of the pond) told a school board meeting that he would not "affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa." The teacher claimed that supporting transgender children by referring to them by their preferred names and pronouns would "damage" them and "defile the holy image of God." He cited his religious beliefs and a 60 Minutes episode about young people who had chosen to "detransition" when justifying his position. "I am speaking out of love for those who are suffering from gender dysphoria," he said. He added: "I'm a teacher but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it's against my religion. It's lying to a child, it's abuse to a child, and it's sinning against our God." You can watch his statement in front of the Loudoun County Public School board below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NLAQ3H_a28 His views go directly against the position of the board, which is that "staff shall allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence, regardless of the name and gender recorded in the student’s permanent educational record." The school's principal, Shawn Lacey, wrote in an email to staff and parents: "I'm contacting you to let you know that one of our physical education teachers, Tanner Cross, is on leave beginning this morning… "Because this involves a personnel matter, I can offer no further information." A spokesman for Loudoun County Public Schools told Fox News that the decision to place Cross on leave had not been made by Lacey himself, and that he was on administrative leave with pay.