Need Advice Quickly - Mermaids Fundraising

It may be best to speak one-to-one with a teacher & as others have suggested take a couple of articles.

Serious questions are being asked of Mermaids as well as Safeguarding concernd being raised by HCPs about how young people are treated by Tavistock GIDS. The government has said there will be an inquiry into how children & young people questioning their gender identity are treated in light of the rapid increase.

Times:
'Trans ideologists are spreading cod science'
by janice turner

Those who defend controversial charity’s right to a £500,000 lottery grant should really listen to what it is preaching

Are you a Princess Barbie jelly-baby who likes frilly dresses, high heels and takes ages to get ready? Or a GI Joe jelly-baby who wears boots and functional clothing? Did you know that your preference for pink sparkles or muddy sports isn’t down to societal expectations of boys and girls. No, it’s written in your chromosomes. And that’s science.

Well, science according to Mermaids, the charity for trans children, in a presentation understood to be given to thousands of teachers, health workers, police and politicians, and part-funded by the Department for Education.

I listened to a recording of this bizarre 90-minute training lecture and wish others could too. Particularly those who pride themselves on rationality and evidence-based thinking: atheists, fans of Richard Dawkins and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science; those incensed by climate change deniers on TV or creationists in schools; the same people who are tweeting #istandwithmermaids because the Big Lottery Fund is reviewing, in the light of an outcry, its decision to award them a £500,000 grant.

On tape the Mermaids trainer tells us that humans don’t come in two sexes, male and female, sperm and ovum: “Most people still think that way,” she says airily. “But what we know now, thanks to advances in science, is that the human race has up to 42 different sets of chromosomes.”

Biological sex is on a spectrum, she says, like skin tone and (seriously) bra size. A person’s “gender identity jelly baby” has nothing to do with how we are raised: it is inside you at birth. You know you are a man because you walk like a man and like “manly” things. A listener questions why this lecture is based upon stereotypes and is told “you’re going too clever”. (continues)
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trans-ideologists-are-spreading-cod-science-m8n0pdbq3

Michael Biggs Sociology Assoc Professor article:
www.transgendertrend.com/suicide-by-trans-identified-children-in-england-and-wales/

Mermaids had a very successful 'gamer' fundraiser for them online just before Christmas & so received a 'windfall' of unexpected money.

There are lots of overseas charities where being openly LGBT+ is an offence.
Also many smaller UK charities who have been doing important and frequently unpublicised work with people who gay & lesbian with far less corporate and government financial support.

Perhaps find a few possible less obvious alternatives to propose?

There was the case of Child J who was the subject of a court case between the parents, I think. The Mum was supported by Mermaids who insisted that the child was transgender and really a girl despite being biologically male. The court eventually told the Mum not to contact Mermaids and to let the child present as a boy which the child was happy to do.

Just thinking if my DD is in a similar situation what could she do.

As you are upper 6th, could you get some like minded parents to muscle in and write to the head - don’t shoulder this yourself alone - politically, I think it’ll take a parent (or a group of) to write a strongly worded letter , including asking them whether they have the funds for future litigation cases, with the word ‘safeguarding’ plastered all over it.

OP, really admire your bravery and drive to do something about this.

Thank you.

If you need IRL support, maybe you could contact Transgender Trend via email and ask for advice? Given it's a parenting group, maybe they'd even know if someone local to you might be able to help?

I'll try to dig up some threads/stuff about Mermaids.

In the meantime I'd like to point out: GIDS, the only UK NHS medical service for trans children, do NOT provide direct links to Mermaids on their website. If you search "Mermaids," the only mention of the charity comes up inside one patient's "story."

gids.nhs.uk/search/node?keys=mermaids

Or here - help people who are at real risk of disease and death now:

donate.oxfam.org.uk/emergency/cyclone-idai?pscid=ps_ggl_Emergency+-+Cyclone+Idai+-+Generic_mozambique_broad&gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwvutpK-W4QIV7rvtCh2v5g9UEAAYASAAEgKWy_D_BwE

Can you find a small, local charity instead? Perhaps one that supports LGB kids or is about mental health in general? Or a homeless shelter (LGBT youth are at high risk of homelessness).

Then you can start your objection with ‘Mermaids have already been given almost a million pounds this year - trans kids are a tiny fraction of society - can we instead raise money that will help more people, people who are currently at risk of getting no support? Local charities are really struggling...

Print off a copy of the Times article about Mermaids and the lottery grant. (I dont have a subscription so hopefully there is someone with a share token) Then perhaps add concerns you might have, for example that transgenderism is being glamorised on You Tube. Perhaps add in you concerns about the possible irreversible effects www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l245/rr-1

and send it to the head, asking if the school could reconsider, or at minimum ask if proceeds can be split between Mermaids and Transgender Trend, which advocates a more conservative watch and await approach. Perhaps the Head would be willing to discuss?

If you have friend of a same opinion then maybe go together and speak to the head and outline your concerns and an alternative charity.

Good luck.
Get a few examples of things printed out and go see the head. Take a parent maybe.
Then follow up with an email?

You'll get hate for it for sure, I tiptoe around at work on these things, but I'd draw the line and have to speak up if they were fundraising for them.

Good luck!

Sorry I'm not articulate or clever enough to give you any specific advice but just wanted to say wow, if you are only 17/18 you are an exceedingly brave and wise young person. Good luck, you are going to go far

I wish you luck. The best tack I can suggest is that school fundraisers should go to small local charities, not national ones in receipt of major lottery funding. Could you approach the head teacher and explain that Mermaids is not suitable, for reasons you are well able to articulate? It may be too late for that.

If you are feeling exceptionally brave, you could mount a counter-information day, using the event to hand out literature with a different opinion.