A drama school teacher said he was forced to quit his Catholic school job after students called him out as gay in a viral trend.
His career was destroyed by the teenagers using TikTok to post ‘clues’ in a ‘guess who’ viral social media trend.
The series of snippets of information pointed to the un-named drama tutor’s identity and which he said gave him away.
The video clip featured the school’s crest with clues, ‘not many people like him’, the name of his school house group, images of theatre comedy, a tragedy mask and a muscled male torso alongside a pride flag.
Perth drama Catholic school teacher forced to quit after being outed as gay in a TikTok (stock image)
The Tik Tok was a ‘guess who’ game which is currently trending on the app, providing ‘clues’ which suggested the drama teacher was gay
‘I was victim to students making a TikTok about me that effectively was outing me,’ the teacher told .
‘Being gay and working in a Catholic school, the scriptures and the Church believe homosexuality is wrong and Slotterkini that teachers may be dismissed from their role due to religious grounds.’
The conditions of employment for all teachers in Catholic education state teachers bans them from coming out publicly as homosexual.
The teacher had been at the school for six years and said he loved his job and was disappointed by the lack of support from the Catholic system.
And he said more needs to be done to protect teachers from cyber harassment by students.
A Catholic Education WA spokesperson said it strongly believed in respecting the dignity of every person and condemned harassment of any nature.
‘Whilst it would not be appropriate to comment on matters involving individual employees or students, the safety and wellbeing of all students and staff are central to our processes and practices,’ the spokesperson said.
‘Appropriate online behaviour continues to be an educational and pastoral focus with clear policies and procedures if student conduct does not meet the high standards expected.’
TikTok community guidelines state the platform does not tolerate bullying or harassment of any kind and encourages users to report inappropriate content.