THE safety and well-being of children, as readers of TCW are aware, is continuously under attack due to the widespread and damaging transgender ideology which has infiltrated our schools. Influenced by groups such as Educate and Celebrate, Just LikeUs, Mermaids, and Stonewall, children are being ‘taught’ that there are more than two genders or that they may have been born in the wrong body.
The advocacy group Citizen Go has long been lobbying against this insidious and destructive indoctrination, and believes we stand at a critical juncture, with a real opportunity to challenge and potentially eliminate the influence of transgender ideology from UK schools.
The Department for Education’s long-awaited guidance for schools on managing cases of pupils wishing to identify as the opposite gender was issued just before Christmas and is open for public consultation until March 12.
Although the guidance marks a significant shift away from trans-affirming ideologies, clarifies that schools are not required to allow children to ‘socially transition’ (the thought that they could have been is truly appalling), and requires protection for single-sex spaces and girls’ sports, it is by no means sufficient. Furthermore, these modest steps are up against the institutional resistance of the largest teaching unions, the National Education Union and NASUWT. The latter have advised teachers to disregard the guidance on the grounds that it is non-statutory.
Tragically, technically the teaching unions are right. Their extreme ideological stance highlights the stark reality that without legal enforcement, these guidelines are mere suggestions with little power to change anything. This is why legal change is needed to make sure schools comply and protect children from the harms of transgender ideology. This is what Citizen Go is seeking.
They ask us all to sign their petition to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, demanding they make key elements of the transgender guidance for schools law. You can find it here.
Evidence that the Department for Education’s guidance is just words on paper can be observed in the case of Kevin Lister whose own case was reported, ironically, on the day the guidance was published. In February 2022 Kevin, a teacher with more than 20 years’ experience, was escorted off the premises of Swindon New College and later sacked for ‘misgendering’ a 17-year-old female pupil who identified as a boy. Despite there being no law recognising ‘gender transition’ for under-18s in the UK, Kevin lost what he described as ‘the best job in the world’.
We will continue to lose good teachers like Kevin unless key elements of the transgender guidance for schools become law. Kevin was correct when he told the Mail: ‘We need legally binding rules to banish this extremist ideology from the classroom once and for all.’
It has taken an awfully long time even to get non-statutory guidance on this matter. Nigel and Sally Rowe fought in the courts for five years before securing a commitment from the UK Government to reform transgender policies in schools. It took more than a year after that for the guidance to be published.
However, there is hope we can achieve positive change and see key elements of the guidance become law soon if sufficient pressure is exerted in the right places. There has been a significantly negative reaction within the Conservative Party to the guidance not being legally binding. A positive law change would set the UK apart from the Labour Party ahead of the general election later this year, as the unexpected by-election win in Hackney shows.
The more signatures gathered, the stronger the message to the Prime Minister and the Education Secretary. Only when key elements of the guidance become law will children, parents and teachers be protected. If we fail, the Department for Education’s guidance will remain non-statutory, meaning it can be completely ignored. Teachers will continue to lose their jobs for protecting children from harm and for standing up for the truth.