Teacher says sexual orientation led to firing

A former kindergarten teacher in Qingdao, Shandong province, has taken the school to labor arbitration, alleging discrimination because he is homosexual.

Yu Liying, the teacher's lawyer, told an arbitration committee on Tuesday that the teacher was "fired indirectly" for his sexual orientation and demanded his job back. The kindergarten said the man resigned voluntarily.

Wei Wenquan, the kindergarten's owner, said "the teacher himself quit by writing a resignation letter".

The kindergarten was jointly founded by Wei and the teacher - who asked not to be identified by name.

The teacher had no labor contract with Wei but was paid a regular salary and had his social insurance covered.

On Aug 5, the teacher shared an article on WeChat titled "I am proud of being gay". The article was seen by some of the kindergarten children's parents who were his WeChat friends.

Some of the children's parents complained to Wei and worried that the teacher's sexual orientation may have a negative influence on their children.

In an interview with China Daily on Tuesday, Wei said, "I have a neutral attitude toward homosexuality, but as the kindergarten's investor and a father, I think this will make children's parents anxious and negatively affect the kindergarten's operation and the children."

"I offered him two choices - continue to be a teacher without disclosing his sexual orientation, or write a resignation letter and accept compensation," Wei said. "And he chose to write the letter."

The teacher confirmed that he had sent the resignation letter to Wei on WeChat instead of on paper, but said Wei didn't give him a choice.

"Wei told me directly to stop my work the next day," he said. "And Wei said I had to write the letter if I wanted to get all the compensation."

Wei then gave him three months' wages - nearly 18,000 yuan ($2,590), he said.

The teacher stopped work at the kindergarten in August, and initiated arbitration in September.

"I quit the job under pressure from Wei, so it's unfair," he said. "That's discrimination against homosexuality, so I wanted to utilize the legal route - arbitration - to fight for my legal rights."

Last week, the arbitration committee organized a mediation session to explore solutions. The teacher said he wanted Wei to apologize and to indicate that homosexuals have equal employment rights.

But the committee said the country's labor law gives all people equal employment rights, and so it would not be necessary to stress homosexual rights specifically.

The mediation failed, and the result of the arbitration - which is binding - will be announced in about two weeks. The arbitration decision can only be challenged in court.

"I wouldn't feel disappointed if I lost the arbitration," the teacher said. "I initiated it to call on more people to focus on the homosexual community and create a more diverse world for children rather than a closed world."