Canada: Teacher suspended for sticking ‘I’m gay’ sign on student’s back

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

A secondary school teacher from Langley, British Columbia, has been suspended for sticking a sign on a student’s back saying “I’m gay”.

The prank, apparently intended to be funny, was played by Daniel Mark Ogloff, a metal fabrication and machining teacher at Aldergrove Community Secondary School.

He wrote “I’m gay” on a piece of masking tape and stuck it to the back of a year 11 male student’s jacket.

After allowing other students to take pictures of the victim, Ogloff let him leave the classroom unawares.

He later described the incident to school officials as “horseplay”.

The school district has suspended Ogloff for 10 weeks without pay over the incident, and the British Columbia Commissioner of Teacher Regulation suspended his teaching certificate for two weeks.