Transgender issues continue to cause debate across UK

‘Distraught’ parents are reportedly contacting campaigning groups every week about the social gender transitioning of children in schools.

This has prompted calls for the new Education Secretary to commission a review into gender identity policies in school, similar to that carried out at the Tavistock Clinic.

Several groups, including human rights organisation Sex Matters and LGB Alliance, have jointly written to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan MP requesting an independent expert review to include the impact of such policies on gender distress and child safeguarding. They expressed concerns that some schools are promoting transgender self-identification.

Schools that do so would be ignoring guidance from the Education Department that makes clear teachers should not tell children they may be a different gender based on their personality or the clothes they want to wear.

The campaigners’ letter said: ‘Parents contact us every week, distraught that a school is socially transitioning their child without adequate consideration for the child’s mental and physical health, and sometimes without even consulting them. Parents are told that if they raise concerns, they may be treated as a danger to their child and referred to social services.’

Meanwhile, a former Church of England primary school teacher, sacked after refusing to address an eight-year-old female pupil by a boy’s name and use male pronouns in reference to her, has lost her application for judicial review. The Midlands-based teacher is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, which said the teacher is taking her case further.

Ahead of the hearing, she said: ‘I was given a choice – go against your conscience and do what you believe would cause a vulnerable child long-term damage, or face losing your career. I could not, based on scientific evidence, my Christian beliefs, and the heartbreaking stories of detransitioners, knowingly participate in harming a child … Teachers are being coerced into teaching children lies. It’s not just dressing up or pretending.’

Elizabeth Harewood is executive officer at the Association of Christian Teachers (ACT). She said that ACT is seeing a substantial increase in the number of members concerned about social transitioning policies in their schools, along with ‘continued use of materials promoting unscientific gender ideology’.

She added: ‘We also have concern that Christians are starting to face dismissal and discrimination when they graciously express their Biblically-based beliefs about sex and gender, despite the then attorney general Suella Braverman’s assurances to the think tank Policy Exchange in August. These examples expose the confusion and disorder being embedded in schools which are contributing to the development into a public health crisis.’

ACT is supporting the campaign groups’ demand in their letter to the Education Secretary that schools should allow parents to inspect all relationships and sex education (RSE) teaching materials. ‘We also want a review of curriculum and teaching materials focused on maintaining “impartiality” in schools, as well as the publication of objective guidance on dealing with students suffering from gender confusion as a matter of priority,’ added Harewood.

Scotland gender recognition plans

The Scottish Government’s resolve to press ahead with relaxing gender recognition rules has prompted an SNP minister to resign as a matter of conscience after the Bill passed its first stage at Holyrood in October.

The vote attracted the biggest-ever rebellion from SNP backbenchers in 15 years. Seven SNP members, including MSPs Ash Regan and John Mason, voted against the party whip. Mason, also an evangelical Christian, said one reason for his stance was ‘truth’.

He explained: ‘As I understand it, there are two biological sexes, male and female. These cannot be changed and for me as a Christian believer, this is also confirmed by the Bible where it says God made us male and female. But the protection of women and their rights is key as well.

‘This has particularly concerned some feminists who have fought for equal pay for women, equal representation for women (in politics, boardrooms, and elsewhere), and safe spaces for women over many years, making some – if limited – progress. All of that good work gets undermined if the distinction between male and female is blurred.’

Parliament rules allow the option of a conscience vote, even on issues of government policy, and Mason told the whips that he planned to vote against the government. He said he is ‘expecting a “talking to” from the whips’ – then hopes it will then ‘blow over’.

If the reforms come into effect, a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria will no longer be required to secure a gender recognition certificate and the age limit to apply will drop to 16 years. However, critics are concerned that the safety and rights of women will be put at risk.

In her resignation letter, Ash Regan MSP said: ‘I have considered the issue of Gender Recognition Reform very carefully over some time. I have concluded that my conscience will not allow me to vote with the government…’ She later tweeted that she believed the legislation ‘may have negative implications for the safety and dignity of women and girls’.

Regan also said the concerns she has previously raised have not yet been addressed; and that this is ‘an issue of a deep concern’ to many people. In just two days after her resignation, she said hundreds of people across Scotland had contacted her to support her stance, with some sharing their own ‘experiences of trauma … and their need for safe spaces’.

The Bill will now move to Stage 2 when the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee considers proposed changes.