A MUSLIM husband threatened to sue an all-female driving school after discovering that his wife’s driving instructor was once a man.
According to ReligionNewsBlog, Joanne Dixon, owner of the Laugh ‘n’ Pass driving school which operates throughout Yorkshire, was called by the ignorant bigot who complained after his wife’s first lesson with 42-year-old Emma Sherdley – formerly a married father of two called Andrew but now legally a woman.
Mrs Dixon said that the man asked her to send a “proper woman” instructor and, later, she received a further call asking for compensation and threatening to sue, saying that she “should have known” not to send Miss Sherdley.
Mrs Dixon, who set up Laugh ‘n’ Pass with all-female teachers 10 years ago, designed to put women learners at their ease, said:
Emma is a popular and very well-respected instructor. The husband insisted said his wife had been out with a male. I replied, No, she’s been with a female. Then he said, ‘Just send a proper female.’
In my eyes we’ve done nothing wrong.
Miss Sherdley has a birth certificate and a “gender recognition certificate” to prove her legal status as a woman, although she is still waiting for final surgery to make her transition from male to female physically complete.
The Laugh ‘n’ Pass website devotes a section to “One special lady by the name of Emma”
Emma is a transgender. She has worked for our driving school for 12 months we are proud of her, everyone loves her. She is sensitive and professional in her work.
Here we accept everyone. We do not discriminate. Life is too short.
Unfortunate in today’s society some others are not as accepting and dislike others for not being like them and we can only feel saddened by this.
Miss Sherdley says that none of her other pupils has had a problem with her sex change and she found the man’s complaints ‘hurtful, offensive and deeply upsetting’.
For that man to threaten to sue me and the driving school is totally and utterly wrong.
At present Laugh ‘n’ Pass employs 20 female instructors, who teach women throughout South and West Yorkshire, and Mrs Dixon said:
Emma’s done really well. She’s so bubbly and gets on with everybody – she’s just one of the girls.
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