If you want a logical comparison to what that teacher is doing, I'll give you one. I went to school with a girl whose father worked for a company that gave employees either a Holden Commodore or a Ford Falcon as a company car. He had a few Commodores and a few Falcons, and I'm not sure if he chose the car or the company said, "We'll go with whichever company gives us the better deal." So, a person who likes Commodores is at a company that gives you a choice of a Commodore or a Falcon and they have chosen Commodores consistently. They get a new car every three years, and they've had this car for 21 months. One day, they're called into the the Manager's Office and the Managing Director is there, who says, "I'm afraid your middle management position is being made redundant, and you have the choice of either a redundancy payout of two years' salary, or a demotion." The person thinks for a minute and decides on the latter. One week later, the managing director calls them in and reaches across the desk to ask the person for the keys to their Commodore, and gives them the keys to another car. They discover, shock horror, that their new company car is a Falcon. Back into the office they thunder. "Do I have to have a Falcon?!" "Look, it's only for 15 months. Next year, when it's up for renewal, you can have a Commodore, again." "I want my old Commodore back!" "I'm sorry, but we've paid out the lease, and that car will be going back to the dealer to be sold." The Falcon was clean when they got it, but after a few months, their immediate manager notices that the Falcon is filthy, and one Friday afternoon, stops them and asks, "Do you want to call yourself a taxi?" "Why?" "Well, I saw the state of your car the other day. You always kept your Commodores clean, but your Falcon is filthy." "I told you, I don't like Falcons." "While you are representing this company, we expect the company cars to be clean. You have until Monday morning to get your car clean, and if it's not, next Friday afternoon, you can think about getting a taxi home." "Why?" "If it's too much trouble for you o keep it clean, you can leave it here and we'll get a detailer to come in and clean it and it will come out of your salary." The person is treating the Falcon like the teacher is treating the student.

The teacher is NOT sacrificing his principles or beliefs, all he is required to do is, by an order of the school, respect the student's gender. If you want another example of what it's like, my father was told, when he became a salesperson, "When you go to a shop, you're there to make a sale. If, however, the shopkeeper asks you, "And what do you think about Liz Truss?" even if hell will freeze over before you vote Conservative, you say, "Just one thing before I answer that, what do YOU think about Liz Truss?" And if the shopkeeper says, "I think Liz Truss is the best damn choice for PM." You say, "I agree with you." Even if you don't. Then, you might go to another shopkeeper, who says, "What do you think about Nick Clegg?" "Well, what do YOU think about Nick Clegg?" "I think he's a great bloke." "So do I." So, you can be Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour, and no one will know what you REALLY think. As he's a high school teacher, he possibly only sees the student for around 40 minutes a day. When the teacher goes home, he can have crucifixes in every room for all the school could care and can read the Bible every morning and every night.

The headline of the article is misleading. The teacher was NOT gaoled for using the wrong pronouns, the teacher was gaoled because he defied an order that he was suspended and not to enter the schoolgrounds! If you want a similar comparison to that, it was like a person being disqualified for six months for drink driving and they get behind the wheel after one month. If you are caught for drink-driving and it's your first offence, and you are not involved in an accident, you probably won't go to prison, but if you are caught driving while disqualified, you possibly will, or you might incur a second fine and a longer disqualification period.

The teacher is making himself out to be a martyr and making a damn fool of himself in the process.