A sign outside a classroom taken in 2016. | REUTERS/Tami Chappell An elementary school in Virginia has placed a physical education teacher on leave after he told the school board that he wouldn't affirm transgender identities because it's tantamount to lying and child abuse, and stressed, “I’m a teacher but I serve God first.” Leesburg Elementary School in Loudoun County placed the teacher, Byron “Tanner” Cross, on leave Thursday, Fox News reported. The decision was made two days after Cross explained at a Loudoun County School Board meeting on May 25 why he wouldn’t “affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa.”