Trump tells DOJ to prosecute teachers who “unlawfully” support trans or nonbinary students

I don't doubt that the Trump Factor is going to be a problem and I'd have much preferred to see the Democrats come to their senses over this, but having seen their reaction to losing the popular vote and all the swing states, does anyone really believe that was ever going to happen?

I'm not sure either what women in Federal prisons and parents of gender distressed children are supposed to do in the meantime - say no to any change until it comes from the 'right people'?

I've been reading Kara Dansky, a Democrat who, (unlike me and I imagine a lot of posters on here) has actually spent the last few years battling with her party, trying to get them to change course. I have a lot of time for her and, if you've not read her books or don't follow her on Twix, the article below is a taster. Her conclusion?:
'Sadly, things are not changing in the US Democratic Party, and it appears that the Democrats are indeed prepared to die on the hill that ‘some men are women’.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/01/24/will-democrats-ever-drop-the-transgender-lunacy/

The TRAs and their allies will double down. However, I am getting a different reaction from the middle ground. Trump himself being "mad, bad, orange, whatever" can be a point of agreement but then the conversation can be steered onto the EOs and I am getting an engagement I would not have got 6 months ago. People want to know what all the fuss is about.

I do agree with this. From
What I’m seeing in my world (charity) emails are flying around filled with emotion affirming that what we need to do now more than ever is come out fighting for LGBTQ+ people because of Trump by which they really mean TQ because they always mean that. More training, more flags, more DQ story time, all of it

I generally can't stand the man but he saved the wonderful Settle to Carlisle railway line so I'm grateful to him for that. I guess my appreciation of railway heritage makes me far right!

Well, it is the other way up I think. I suppose if you realise that clinicians at the Tavistock said that some deeply homophobic parents brought their children along to the clinic. Their gender non conforming children or suspected same sex attracted children, in order to ‘trans the gay away’. The wry ‘joke’ among clinicians was that there wouldn’t be any gay children left, as they had all been put on a trans pathway in order to try to appear as the opposite sex. Maybe some parents would prefer the medicalisation of their formerly healthy non gender conforming youngsters, than for them to grown up gay.

It’s all very sad, how this misogynistic and homophobic ideology was not assessed very much before being given carte blanche in such a way. Thank goodness for the Cass Report. A rational approach, and ethical way of looking at how gender non conforming, and distressed children were being treated.

I read somewhere (LGB Alliance?) young girls (who may grow up to be lesbians) in particular will be very affected. Instead of being allowed to grow up healthy and confident in who they are, they are being led to believe that they are really born in the wrong bodies and are boys. Also girls who are trying to flee their sexualisation by society, or identify out of being abuses. It is double dose of misogyny on the homophobia. They are being lied to that they can actually change their sex, and led along to a life of possible sterility and ill health.

I suspect that past and current practices will be the abuse scandals and investigation of the future.

Just as Democrats were stupid to hand Republicans the weapon of males being in female sports it would be stupid to allow the reverse to happen.

Yes, everyone should make up their minds independently on every issue but realistically people rarely have time for that.

Not at all. I thought your comments about the pace of change and the reaction to it were really interesting. I spent a while pondering whether (what I see as a glacial pace) of tackling schools is actually cover for allowing schools to steadily retreat from an unacceptable position they've got themselves into. Thus allowing them to reverse ferret without having to lose face or apologise.

As well as acknowledging that having been involved in this for so long, it's exhausting to see things continuing. Maybe it's better for those of us just exasperated by it all to take a step back if our irritation starts alienating people (iyswim) ?

Edited to add not sure I've explained that clearly 😐

Apparently it is far right to watch Portillo’s Great British Railways according to some on the internet.

Indeed Mrs O!

What a convenient way to stop women campaigning for their and children’s needs? Categorise the needs of women and safeguarding protections as right wing. And reject any measures that reprioritise sex over gender identity and impartial safeguarding for children because any support of it would cause significant discomfort to those who have an identity revolving around their political beliefs.

Woman are saying ‘this is what we need’, and those who are concerned, even petrified, of being seen as supporting something that the party has decreed as not for them to address.

So instead of dealing with each EO and discussing relevant pros and cons, we get the ‘look over there’ tactics. There could be similarities with that document however, to declare that they are all part of a campaign of hate is a misrepresentation. It ignores that these are issues that concern ALL the electorate regardless of party membership.

The question remains, are the need of female people and children to be put on hold until the ‘good’ government comes into power and that ‘good’ government decides the issues should be addressed after all?

Or should the issues be addressed as and when campaigners have gained support?

When? When will it be convenient and politically acceptable for the needs of female people and children to be protected?

And if your (general you) answer looks anything like ‘but not Trump’, you have just assigned female people and children to another four years of known harm just for political purity. No wonder you need to align the EOs to being only hateful.

I hope you didn’t think my comments were in any way scolding anyone here. That wasn’t in any way my intention. I’m just personally uneasy because until Trump got in, most of UK friends and colleagues were trending terfwards. Now a few people (also in the UK) are so convinced everything Trump is doing is bad, by definition, that it’s making me uneasy about potential backlash against everything he’s doing.

I commented on the BBC thread about it. When I see Trump doing good things and the BBC so biased that they are misleading anyone who relies on them, I feel I am in such a topsy turvy position that it’s disorienting. I mean, it’s been disorienting for a while. If you’d told me it was going to get worse, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Can you name a right that a man will have that a transwoman will not.

Surely a math teacher doesn't have a human right to persuade girls to wear breast binders?

A gym teacher doesn't have a human right to say "I feel more affirmed if boys are allowed in the showers with other people's daughters"

This is not about their right to be what they are, but their right to push or impose their ideology on other people's children.

None of these penalties will ever be imposed if teachers do their job without introducing their personal or political needs. No decent teacher is in any danger.

I imagine all the good teachers will be breathing a sigh of relief as now they can't be punished for refusing to do what the activists demand.

Not sure where you got "Pretending you're here to teach us everything" from my comments but you're entitled to your view.
I'm just pointing out that all the scolding of women pleased to see the leader of a country finally speaking out and stopping schools from transitioning children (sometimes in secret from parents) isn't having an impact on the political leaders in this country who still feel empowered to fund and enable transactivism happening in schools.

Edited to add: I'm genuinely sorry if my choice of words offended anyone who's been fighting this battle for years.That wasn't my intention.

@MrsOvertonsWindow Oh give over. Plenty of us have been funding court cases over here, writing to our MPs, sending evidence to the Baroness, bought Time to Think to push it up the Amazon charts, talked tirelessly to friends and family to raise awareness, etc - you are not the only person who's ever lifted a finger on this topic. It would be nice if you bothered to remember this started off as a feminist pushback and we welcomed conservative women who wanted to join us. Pretending you're here to teach us everything isn't a good look.

I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to stop children's lives being wrecked by the belief that their bodies are wrong but a sex change will "cure" them because I despise a politician.
Hopefully all those fretting about this are working tirelessly to persuade our politicians and the rest of society who have signed up to transactivism that the safety of children is more important than the demands of transctivists.
The rest of us have been dismissed as right wing bigots but hopefully if you're anti Trump enough they'll be listening to you? Won't they? 🙄

This, and another danger is that "supporting trans people" becomes identified with being "anti Trump".

As Trump continues to attack neighbouring countries and dismantle democracy then "trans rights" could start to look like the patriotic option - most people think the Liberal Party in Canada will get a boost from Trump's attacks on Canada.

Once Trump starts attacking us in the UK easy to see the same thing happening here.

I imagine a good number of teachers and school leaders will be very grateful to have an excuse to push back on gender ideology. They can blame Trump and thereby avoid the torrent of abuse that would previously have come their way.

If microplastic are turning kids delusional, should we still be operating on their genitals? Or should we take action against microplastics?

Honestly, the contortions that are made to justify this never ceases to amaze.

I don’t believe that the number of children in this generation of children who have now declared they are trans have been negatively impacted in this way by microplastics. This is misinformation and it is harmful to be posting this as even a valid theory.

There is also a huge difference between a teacher supporting exploration of identity, and those who support the validation of an identity when that validation comes with a list of harms that can be viewed as negatively impacting that child and other children, particularly when decisions about that identity have not be supported by the parents. And to a large extent even then there needs to be limitations on what is supported, and taught, because of the potential harm of others

You sound confused to be honest.

Exploring the sociallly constructed dimensions of gender means experimenting, exploring and either accepting or rejecting certain norms and or stereotypes associated with one's sex. It does not mean believeing that you can actually change sex. Sex is fixed. it is an immutable biological reality.

Nobody was using pronouns (in the way that people are now) in the 1980s, and that includes in schools - for the reason nobody had heard of transgenderism. It wasn't really a thing then. People were aware of a few men who were called 'transsexuals' - who had radical surgeries.....but that was pretty much it.

Of course people who adopt such identities and beliefs exist...but what they believe in has no basis in reality. Nobody should be compelled to partake in such a belief; and children should not be encouraged to engage in fantastical thinking either...especially when that path so often leads towards drugs, cross sex hormones not naturally suited to the body, and radical, disfiguring surgery.

What adults do is their business, but again it should not be imposed upon everyone ele. Private feelings should remain private.

Is this what you are framing as " hate"?

i look at it as the people exist, now it is a whole different discuss as to whether people should have to act if the identity was based in material reality or whether that identity is based on material reality. And I don’t believe that laws should prioritise any identity over sex categories when sex matters.

No one can change the sex category of their body. And no person should have to support the belief that a human can change sex or act as if a person has changed sex if they claim that they have.

I also was a feminist child in the 80s. I went into construction and did the boys subjects at school.

There was no such thing as changing pronouns in the 80s.

@AlisonDonut

The above post outlines my worries in a better way than I can.

I too disagree with men in women’s prisons, and men participating in female sport.

But trans people do exist. This generation of young people have been crammed full of hormone disrupting microplastics. Their food has been infiltrated with hormones. How can we say that they are just being ‘delusional’.

I sincerely hope that Starmer doesn’t follow this example. Education is already in crisis. I applaud teachers who just respect students as an individual and manage to get their job done- which is to teach.

Section 28 had nothing to do with the "T".
Is "T" once again rewriting history?.

Just because someone says something exists it does mean it does exist. There are differences of opinions and whilst some may believe it is possible others might not - isn't this the same as other beliefs people have.