We expect that sensible headteachers will breathe a sigh of relief today that the Government has, belatedly, recognised that the social contagion of ‘trans’ is destabilising school communities and endangering vulnerable children.
This Guidance is clear: a school’s legal responsibilities are framed by a child’s biological sex. And we are pleased that gender identity ideology is, correctly, described as a contested belief rather than as objective fact.
We are especially pleased that the Guidance specifically cautions that a young person’s growing awareness of their same-sex sexual orientation is sometimes assumed to be, or mistaken for, a ‘trans’ identity.
LGB Alliance has long argued that children who might otherwise grow up to be happily lesbian, gay or bisexual are being told, at school, that an attraction to someone of the same sex may be an indication that they were ‘born in the wrong body’.
We already know that the majority of teenage girls attending gender clinics describe themselves as same-sex attracted and that social transition, facilitated by schools, is often the first step towards irreversible drugs and surgery peddled by unscrupulous practitioners.
The recognition in this Guidance of the potential harms of social transition is welcome.
It is, however, disappointing that social transition may be considered, for older children, on ‘rare’ occasions. This places an inappropriate burden on teachers to make decisions for which they are wholly unqualified.
In addition, the Interim Report from the Cass Review tells us that social transition is “not a neutral act”. Besides the potential negative impact on the individual concerned, we must consider that if just one child in a school changes their pronouns, every child is compelled to collude in the lie that it is possible to change sex.
We abhor the indoctrination of children with fantastical theories and nonsense ideologies. Truth matters. It cannot be right for any school to, knowingly, teach children to lie.
So we are extremely alarmed that some LGBTQ+ organisations are already calling on teachers to ignore this Guidance – a move that would harm LGB teens. It is the clearest indication yet that the interests of LGB people and those who identify as TQ+ are in conflict.
Despite our reservations, LGB Alliance consider this Guidance to be a welcome step in the right direction. We will continue to consult with the Government and to focus on the needs of same-sex attracted young people at this important time.