Kirsty Mckenzie
MALE teachers in Spain have taken a stand against bullies by wearing skirts to class.
Manuel Ortega, 37, and Borja Velaquez, 36, who teach Virgen de Sacedon primary school in Valladolid swapped their suits for skirts after after overhearing homophobic slurs directed to a pupil who was wearing a t-shirt featuring an anime character, forcing him to change.
The pair joined The Clothes Have No Gender (#LaRopaNoTieneGenero) movement as an act of solidarity and to prove to the students that clothes do not dictate how they should be treated.
“A school that educates with respect, diversity, co-education and tolerance,“ tweeted Velaquez. “Dress how you want! We join the campaign #clotheshavenogender.”
The original campaign began late last year when Maths teacher Jose Piñas took a stand against the treatment of one of his pupils.
The student was expelled his school in Bilbao, in the Basque Country, and forced to visit a psychologist after wearing a skirt to school.
The boy shared a now-viral video on TikTok in November explaining that he had wanted to show support for feminism and diversity.
Since then, November 4 has become ‘wear a skirt to school day’ while hundreds of students and teachers have joined the movement to show solidarity.
Shortly after the expulsion, Mr Pinas tweeted a picture of himself wearing a skirt and wrote : ‘20 years ago I suffered persecution and insults for my sexual orientation in the institute where I am now a teacher… many teachers, they looked the other way.
“I want to join the cause of the student, Mikel, who has been expelled and sent to the psychologist for going to class with a skirt.”
