(extract from OP Guardian Article)
"Stephanie Davies-Arai, a parenting adviser, launched the Transgender Trend resource pack in February half-term, thinking it would barely get noticed. Instead, she says: “It just blew up”. The LGBT lobby group Stonewall accused Transgender Trend, the organisation Davies-Arai set up two-and-a-half years ago, of spreading “damaging myths, panic and confusion”, and advised local authorities not to use the pack. On Twitter, people piled in, with one describing the pack (which had been checked by lawyers) as a “modern edition of Mein Kampf”.
Davies-Arai says she took an interest in the subject because as a child she had felt herself to be a boy, and she didn’t think it was a good idea to label children like her as transgender because she believes that in some cases, these feelings resolve naturally by the end of adolescence."
Response to Transgender Trend School Pack as reported by Pink News this February,
(extract)
"The publication has been fiercely condemned by the trans youth work organisation, Gendered Intelligence, which accused it of limiting “young people’s access to information and potentially life-saving support.”
Gendered Intelligence told PinkNews: “[The report] encourages schools to humour young trans and gender questioning students, rather than affirming and celebrating them.
Its censorious approach to young people’s futures is intentionally provocative in how it erases the real, lived experiences of trans youth.”
The group also accused Transgender Trends of paranoia and inaccuracy, saying: “Talking about gender diversity and trans lives does not make someone trans, but can only aid an understanding of the broad range of gender expressions and identities that already exist in society.”
www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/02/14/trans-kids-guide-is-inaccurate-and-deeply-damaging-say-lgbt-activists/
some relevant threads here:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3182187-Support-for-Transgender-Trend-Stephanie-Davies-Arai
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3072757-Great-article-about-Transgender-Trend-in-the-Mail-Yes-really
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3166853-Transgender-Trends-new-resource-pack-for-schools
(From the OP Guardian article)
"Claire Birkenshaw, a transgender former headteacher, says the wide range of different advice creates confusion and conflict. “There needs to be clear statutory guidance for schools that incorporates the views of experts from education, the medical profession, the Equality and Human Rights Commission and trans people,” she says. “Rows about a vulnerable and marginalised group in education are not helpful.”
The EHRC is planning to issue guidance of its own next month, something Birkenshaw welcomes. “Schools want to support the transgender young person, but at the same time they’ll be reflecting on how other children may feel, on how staff are going to feel and parents.”
Claire Birkenshaw was interviewed in March by The Guardian.
Link to the article and discussion of points made in the thread below.
OP comment,
"I really don't know what to think about this, but I suspect it's the usual pushy agenda on kids who may be confused about their sexuality. They are just being shoved into the 'transkids' umbrella. I really worry about gay rights and am baffled as to why Stonewall is supporting this.
I mean, good on the teacher for making a stand for her/him/self but some of what the article describes smells like shutting down dissent to me."
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3192837-Transitioned-headteacher-Guardian-article