Plan to let children change gender at school a 'political disaster' - row has broken out within the Government

It's time to get rid of gendered school uniforms, and different rules on haircuts for the different sexes. If trousers/skirts/long hair/crew cuts are safe and appropriate for one sex, they should be acceptable on the other sex. Its pure sex discrimination to allow girls to have long hair, while boys have to keep theirs above their collar: or for girls to be forced to wear skirts.

Nobody should be bullied because of their choices on dress/personal grooming.

But there should be no nonsense in schools suggesting that anyone can change sex, and pupils who identify as trans will have to accept that other people do not share their belief system, and may not wish to use their 'preferred pronouns'. They also need to be told clearly that toilets/changing rooms / sports teams will continue to be segregated on the basis of sex.

@SlightlyShostakovich this absolutely plus parents need to be completely clued in at all costs. Thanks be to God for mumsnet, I honestly would be in the dark for much of it otherwise as I suspect plenty of parents are.
As the case with the girls who quite rightly videoed the teachers shite shows the young generation as turning increasingly GC.. Too fucking right.

I am pleased (not the right word really) that the government is having an almighty row about this in Cabinet because it forces them to accept that this is their responsibility, their doing, their series of mistakes.

Lots of individual Secretaries of State and Ministers took their eyes off the ball.

The clear water between themselves and the opposition on this that they could and should have had is not in fact so clear at all.

Sunak is having to face that. Tory ministers fucked up.

Unfortunately it’s not true ☝️

should be

Unfortunately it’s true

Hard as it is to hear this, please check out your own school and their policies.

Kids are being coached by influencers (adults/strangers) and them affirmed (their instincts/boundaries being dismantled) by a small number of school teaching staff on the back of activist third sector charities. By the time parents are involved it’s too late, they’re already isolated.

Unfortunately it’s not true. Parents are being sidestepped, it’s endemic with endless examples now written across a number of UK newspaper.

Safeguarding isn’t operating as it should.

Kemi is fantastic! I hope she's getting lots of emails of support, she is doing her very best & has increased public awareness as to what is being done to little children.

I don't think that's true. What about a parent who was subjecting their daughter to breast ironing or FGM? Or Susie Green taking her 15-year-old son to Thailand so that he could be castrated as a 16th birthday present? Sometimes parents don't act in their child's best interests.

And in the case of very young children in primary school identifying as trans, this has more to do with the parents than the children.

I've been waiting thirteen years for this government to do one thing that could be described as conserving. Y'know, they are meant to be the CONSERVEative Party, lol.

If Kemi can pull this off, and we know it'll be Kemi, not the useless and frankly pointless Keegan, then I'll again have a party that aligns with my attitudes.

You have no idea what a novel concept that is.

Lord knows, the Tories need all the votes they can muster next year.

At the end of the day parents are the child's main guardian & educator. They cannot be bypassed in any circumstances. The buck stops with parents.

Even if a parent could make an informed decision on consent, without detailed, explicit statutory standards that clarify how a school records this consent along with actual consequences for non compliance it will continue along the lines of a teaching staff member remembered that “one parent agreed it was ok”.

Why on earth are parents being required to make these decisions?

This is a Paediatric issue like any of the comorbidities that are always involved in Gender Dysphoria, how is this one exempt?

Mark Lehain, head of education at the Centre for Policy Studies, said: “Confirming that parents must give permission for social transitioning in school would be a helpful clarification, as it most definitely should not happen without this.

“However, it’s essential that the guidance also makes it clear that schools should not do this if they do not feel it’s in the best interests of the child, or that other underlying issues need exploring first.”

What qualifications does he think parents and teachers have which would qualify them to decide whether or not this is in a child's best interests?

Pretty much.

These activist teaching staff have elected themselves as qualified professional mental health clinicians able to diagnose a condition that doesn’t exist in any clinical texts, and identify an intervention that is considered to have major psychotherapeutic impact.

For clarity, they’re not diagnosing Gender Dysphoria and any comorbidities. They are in essence affirming an Anorexic child that they’re fat.

And no one can stop them 🤷‍♂️

I’m not surprised there’s a row. Kemi and Gillian aren’t aligned and Gillian is softer on this than many others in the party.

That recording has really helped. Any later and the guidance might have been out already

I just don't think Gillian Keegan gets it. Remember she did say that 16 years old was old enough to choose self ID.

I think you've got to have a benchmark in schools like Miriam Cates says.

Would this mean that with parental consent, a boy would be able to use girls' facilities, run for head girl etc.

What information are these teachers and parents relying on when they are coming to these conclusions over whether social transition is in the best interests of the child? The 40% suicide stat? The Stonewall/Mermaids guidance? The child's favourite TikTok influencer's?

“Gillick”

It’s a magic word that disappears Parental Authority or Responsibility.

If you want to try this at your school, or any NHS environment where your child has been communicated with or a decision has been made about a diagnosis and intervention such as “Trans” and “Social Transition”, or “Anxiety”, “Stress” etc Ask to see the Gillick assessment, the name of the HCP and purpose.

These assessments are simply not happening, Parental Responsibility is being evaded in this way.

I don't think children should be able to change pronouns etc full stop. There are far too many "transparents" out there who love the attention their trans child gets, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be another way Munchhausen's By Proxy manifests. Just a blanket no, and any adults pushing for children to be different to what they are should be an instant safeguarding flag. I do think parents should be informed but they shouldn't be able to give permission for this nonsense charade of "changing gender" to be performed at the expense of their child.

Of course parentel consent is needed for anything regarding their child until their 18..
If a child identifies as a cat, a boy, a girl or a dolphin it needs to be a safeguarding issue as obviously something is not right. Mental health services need to be involved at the first instant.
Parents can not be stepped over. Legally how has this been happening?