Can anyone help me with information about the charity metro? Going into my daughters school.

[Youcantscaremeihavechildren]

Hi all, hoping to just mull this over with someone as not really sure what to think. Received a letter today from school, telling us London and kent/medway/Sussex based charity Metro are coming in to talk about diversity and particularly HBT+ bullying.
I haven't quite formulated my feelings about the whole trans thing, but it does concern me that they are running a diversity day, when they clearly have a bias towards transphobic bullying being a thing.
I don't really know what I'm trying to say.. It all just concerns me a bit, they are saying that Yr 4 will learn about 'gender roles and stereotypes' hoping this just means it'll be along the lines of girls can be firefighters too etc... But I have a feeling its not going to be!
I can speak to the head, just not sure how to formulate what I want to ask. The whole thing is just a minefield and I don't want to come across as a horrible bigot. I guess I just want assurances that their stance is not going to be of the trans women are women, should be treated exactly as women at the detriment of women, and that they aren't going to push some horrible agenda of children who don't conform to gender stereotypes must somehow be trans. I frankly don't give a rats arse what anyone wears, calls themselves or does in bed, and I think my children are as accepting as they should be, but I just want to ask a few questions.
I'm blethering, but does anyone know of this charity, are they OK in their approach with younger children?

Haven’t heard of them, email the school and ask to see the materials they will be using so that you can ‘support at home’. If they won’t provide them, that’s a red flag.

Thanks, that's a good idea. They might say I can have them after the day though... I've chatted to dd about it, asked her what she thought gender meant, she just said boys and girl. She's a young 8, not much street smarts, I think tbh most of it will go over her head.

Here you are OP: This is something they use in schools

metrocentreonline.org/youth/anti-hbt-bullying-programme

You could just google them and send them a message asking what they cover. They’re easy to find with google.

How good. That may help a few children. Now ask the school what training they are delivering about sexism and misogyny and which kids they are selecting to be ambassadors for that?

Here’s an excellent company that can help your school with tackling sexism and misogyny.

ukfeminista.org.uk/resources/whats-the-problem/

Perhaps recommend them to your school.

Great, thanks all, really helpful. I found a folder of resources they use with ks2, plus a lesson plan, seems fairly innocuous although I'm not happy with the use of cisgendered in one of the explanations of what the terms mean, it all does seem to be centred around bullying and not treating people badly because if how they look. Also they describe trans as someone living as the gender they identify with, (not actually changing sex, which is something, I suppose.. ) but in the same breath it's all not everyone confirms to a gender stereotype. I can't make sense of it all, it's just gobbledegook....

And thanks for finding the resources, was trying to look on my phone with 4 Yr old ds harassing me to put dinosaurs on YouTube...

Tbh it is a bit bigoted to be worried that a school might get someone in to address transphobic bullying

Skyzalimit bigoted huh? To be wondering about what kids are being taught. Righty-o then.

Skyzalimit - it is not bigoted to be concerned what external organisations are feeding into the minds of year 4 children.

We know some of the stuff in "diversity day" programs, from orgs like Mermaids & Allsorts - who teach gender identity as fact, and tell little boys that they might be little girls if they like pink and long hair.

This is not factual - it is part of an extreme ideology that teaches kids outdated gender stereotypes that belong back in the 1950s.

@Skyzalimit I'm a teacher myself, I take bullying very seriously, for all reasons. But, I want to know what my daughter is being taught. If its purely a stance of bullying, awareness, getting children to talk about how different people dress or who they love or that they might not like things that 'traditional boys' or girly girls like, then I'm of course all for that. If though, this or their organisations are teaching that if you like pink and you're a boy you must be trans and that trans people are able to change their sex, or that they should be given access to spaces usually restricted for single sexes, then yes, I'm perfectly within my rights to think about it, discuss it and research more to see if I need to ask the school have they thought about it enough or if they are giving a balanced view.
It's too easy in schools to tick box thing like equality by bringing in an organisation because it's cheap/free, without checking it out. Years ago we used to send shoeboxes to operation Christmas child, because we'll, it's what you did, who would deny the starving children presents right? But I then asked them to research a few links about their religious links, we now give presents and food to local charities instead. So I think it's important to ask questions, and yes I do feel awkward, I would never want yo cause anyone pain, but I also think we shouldn't blindly accept everything for fear of looking like a bigot.

And it's only one side here that uses the word 'bigot'. All the time.

So much that it's lost all impact, AncientLights ...

errr
where are the lesbians then?
very, very strange that they (I presume) are subsuming lesbians within 'homosexual'- OK that is technically correct but why exactly would they do that?

But lesbians aren't being erased, oh no, not at all....

I've just had a look at their KS2 materials, and there's a bit about stereotypes, and how nobody really fits into the stereotype of 'boy' or 'girl', but then it introduces the genderbread person and the idea of gender identity in the form of a 'boy' or 'girl' brain.

This must be very confusing for children.

@oldcrone yes, that's the bit that confused me! Not just confusing for young children...

from the Metro website:

OUR HISTORY
METRO was established 1984 in response to the development of the Greater London Council's Lesbian & Gay Charter, Changing the World.

Originally operating under the name The Greenwich Lesbian and Gay Centre and providing telephone advice and support groups, the charity broadened its remit in 1994, working in partnership with statutory and voluntary organisations serving lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT)people and those questioning their sexuality.

Over the next decade and beyond, METRO has extended its services beyond Greenwich, and across South East London, until eventually it began working not only across the whole of London, but nationally and internationally.

In early 2008, the membership of METRO agreed to amend its Constitution to provide services to all people experiencing issues related to sexuality, identity, gender and diversity.

From its inception, METRO has taken a holistic approach to lesbian, gay bisexual and transgendered health and well-being and continues to acknowledge that our ability to create supportive environments for LGBT people depends not only on our strengths as an organisation, but also on our capacity to build alliances and partnerships that empower all people who confront discrimination because of their sexuality, gender, identity or HIV status.

In recent years we have developed a range of services and that support African people and communities affected by HIV consolidated and expanded since our merger with Harbour Trust in December 2010."

Thanks for the links truth. It looks like a copy and paste of Mermaids training - genderbread person, facilitating discussions about stereotypes then asking them to say which stereotypes the kids think are "true".

OP, it looks as though the KS1 resource is fine, just discussing different kinds of families and there are some nice facilitation ideas. The KS2 and KS3 resources are where the nonsense of validating stereotypes begins. Its irresponsible and bad logic to teach kids to think that some stereotypes are "true". Some might make a (bad) logical inference from that to say that some prejudice and discrimination is justified because its based on a stereotype that is "true".

Peeved that in the resource on Stonewall they firmly trans Marsha P Johnson and don't mention Storme de Larverie at all. Lesbian erasure one of those things that never happens, obviously.

OP I'd be asking which teacher has vetted/quality assured these resources for use in the school, and ask whether the resources is actually going to help reduce HBT bullying in the school. By reinforcing discussions of stereotypes there is a risk that bullying could be increased. Have the resources been evaluated? Do they actually do what they set out to do?

I find these conversations on FWR very helpful because it helps me prepare what I need to teach our kids at home to help them critically assess the nonsense they will be taught at school. Some of the resources will be okay (like the KS1 here), so we'll just have to work through each resource as it happens.

Not just confusing for young children...

Exactly. Gender identity makes no sense except as a way of reinforcing gender stereotypes. But to teach the children that they don't have to conform to stereotypes and then tell them that a girl might 'feel like' a boy (presumably because of stereotypes) - how can they not see the contradiction?

If you're going to talk to the head, perhaps you could ask them about the identity part of the genderbread person. On the teaching materials it says:

Identity: This is how you see yourself. Whether you see yourself as a boy, a girl, neither, or both.

Children are either boys or girls, so this is a bit difficult to understand. Especially as the previous bit of the lesson says a gender-non-conforming girl is still a girl.

In the glossary, it says:
Gender identity is how you feel about your gender
A transgender person feels a different gender inside to their biological sex

You could ask the head about how this ties in with not having to conform to stereotypes. Why is 'how you feel about your gender' important if you don't have to conform to stereotypes? Does the transgender person feel a different gender inside because of stereotypes or because they feel their body is somehow wrong? If it's the latter, it's a mental health condition which I don't think 8-year-olds need to be taught about.

Of course, in the current climate this will all need careful phrasing to ensure you don't get labelled as a bigot for wanting to understand more.

Why have they changed the widely understood lgbt with our without a +

To hbt

To me it feels like lesbians have been a bit invisibilised

As while homosexual theoretically applies to both
While gay men are so much more visible in general
If you don't specify the L a lot of people will default to men (as per usual)

@oldcrone exactly, tats exactly what I'm trying to explain, really badly.
I have to be so careful, it's like the thought police are alive and well, I'll have a think about how I phrase it.

The CEO / director / founder was Marguerite McLaughlin

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100601080909/www.metrocentreonline.org/staff.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20100601080909/www.metrocentreonline.org/staff.htm

She has now stepped down but was at on time running "tantric sex" workshops for lesbians according to this
<a class="break-all" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fBVRYnVlNUoJ:pocketmags.com/diva-magazine/february-2017/articles/79639/contributors+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fBVRYnVlNUoJ:pocketmags.com/diva-magazine/february-2017/articles/79639/contributors+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=safari

It seems that Metro might have been initially primarily focussed on gay men's needs and rights?

Like many grassroots organisations it has evolved and seems to have a clear shift to become more professionally structured and securely funded.

Like most LGB charities, it clearly embraced the 'T'

Its fairly clear on the website.