Mermaids response to piece in Mail tomorrow

[EweSurname]

Looking forward to seeing what drops

www.mermaidsuk.org.uk/press-enquiry-from-the-mail-on-sunday-25th-may-2019.html

We are very proud of the training we offer to schools and we have a proven record of helping teachers to support vulnerable children who simply want to get along with their lessons like any of their classmates.

We are disappointed to find that a school governor has made a covert recording of our training because our presentations are not held in secret and all of the scientific and legal information we offer is publicly available and well-tested.

We are surprised to see that a Church of England rector is complaining about our training when we are included in the CoE guidance on support for transgender people, which can be found here.

Part of the work of Mermaids is giving training talks to schools. These talks are well received and are an important part of how we promote an inclusive and informed approach to trans children and those who support them.

We have been contacted by the Mail on Sunday who are doing an article about one such talk. This post is our response, in accordance with our policy of posting our replies to media queries for the benefit of anyone interested in our activities.

• 'Put your hand up if you disagree with me, your boss, who can then fuck your entire career'. That was bullying.*

It was. She should be disciplined for that. Completely inappropriate.

Finally got round to listening to the audio. What the ACTUAL fuck?

One of the lesson plans we have for younger children is based around a book called Vincent the Vixen ... so you get a Vincent toy, so a toy fox who is part of class. So he starts in September on the first day, he has a little dressing up bag cos he loves to dress up and every day a [kid?] gets picked to choose his outfit for the day. He's on the register, he goes to assembly, he goes home every weekend with someone, writing a diary, all that kind of stuff. And then at some point in the year the teacher can read Vincent's story and talk about having brothers and sisters, and he sometimes gets looked after by Betty the Badger who has a dressing up box. Now, they already know Vincent loves dressing up so that's fine, but then one day his brothers and sisters ask him why he always picks the girl's stuff. And he doesn't know, he can't answer. And then he gets worried and he gets confused, and because the children love him and they know him they don't want him to feel sad, they want him to be happy. And then he talks to Betty the Badger and then Betty the Badger helps him talk with his family. And then it ends with 'she lived happily ever after' and then you just change the pronoun.

Has anybody ever seen Jelly Baby Jan and Betty the Badger in the same room?

“in general resigning from the Church of England is not just a matter of looking around for another job in your area. It's having to leave your home, pull your kids out of school, leave friends and a community that you have poured yourself into”

myfoolishnotion thanks to John for putting everything on the line - if there’s any way we can support him & his family I’m sure many would want to help.

Jan comes across as pretty dim

Jan comes across as a certain kind of fiery, tough, matriarchal Liverpool mother ( Being from, and living in Liverpool, I recognise this instantly).It's " all about the kids..." and if that kid is mine, then you'd best keep your nose out of it. I'm imagining Jan has a trans child herself.

I was in a branch of Schuh, in Liverpool, some months ago when I became very aware of a child - aged about 9/10, with two accompanying female relatives. My instinct and impression was 'boy'.

The child was trying on school shoes - girls' school shoes. Had short hair, but softly so.....candy-pink corduroy trousers......and was wearing the most strangely curious expression; as if trying on 'a girl face': passive, winsome and pretty. I sensed total confusion; especially, I assumed, since the adults in the room were all going along with this.

I'm going to write to the Bishop and The Rev Tim Elbourne, director of education for the Diocese of Chelmsford.

It's a huge shame John is leaving the Church - he should have stayed there to be a thorn in the side of the school after resigning as Governor. He would have parents wanting to hear what he has to say, an opportunity to educate other parents and parishioners and also, as a Church of England school, guess where they will want to go for their Christmas Carol concerts etc.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the book. Clearly it’s a crock of shit but it takes a top ten publisher to get anywhere and this is thinly veiled self-publishing. Bullshit illustration job too.

I'm trying to make out what another person is saying to him at the end. "It's got to the stage where it's too much" ?

Yes and then “it’s got to the stage where it’s out of hand”

That was awful that recording.

What baffles me is all the other people/teaching staff etc in that room who witnessed what Jan did to him, and didn’t step in. These are teachers. They know bullying when they see it. They know intimidation when they see it. It’s their job to recognise it and to stamp on it. Why did no-one step in and say “I’m afraid this meeting has come to an end”?

But even worse, they saw all that, and still came to the conclusion this was a person they wanted to take guidance from on how to care for vulnerable children. That bully is the person they have decided, after witnessing her in action, is the best person to take advice on children from.

what planet are they on?

Jan came across as nasty, the whole not all religious people are bigots, shame one’s showed up here, I don’t blame the rest of you for it, it’s ok, we will just pat him on the head and get him to “email” his concerns , straight in the bin with those eh?

At least we now know if Vincent comes home with one of our DC, to send him back wearing something appropriate and ensure he has appropriate diary entries. We can teach Vincent that wearing "girls" clothes and doing "girls" activities is absolutely fine for a boy.

If Vincent were to come home to anyone for the weekend my advice would be to “lose” him.

But even worse, they saw all that, and still came to the conclusion this was a person they wanted to take guidance from on how to care for vulnerable children. That bully is the person they have decided, after witnessing her in action, is the best person to take advice on children from

And if they are like that with adults alongside witnesses towards a calm polite pleasant adult can you imagine what they will be like towards children who get upset or ask a question with no adults besides the trainer around to protect them.

They will ensure no child ever speaks up again which opens the door to all the abuse anyone feels like because it will go unspoken about.

Vincent’s diary From his weekend at minibondi house:

Vincent did lots of reading. His favourite book is the dictionary. He also loved the biology textbooks and some work by “Tavistock”. (Vincent also did a shit in the garden and laughed when the dog rolled in it.)

Exactly sarah. It’s fucking terrifying. I’m afraid if my child came home with Vincent I’d be removing him from the school. They would clearly be too thick to be anywhere near children.

So sad that a man of principle feels that he needs to leave the church.

It’s not just teachers/schools. People everywhere are compartmentalising their lives so they keep silent at work, but go home read the DM and vote Brexit. Equalities and others training does not allow for discussion or debate. You are taught what is ‘correct’ and take heed so you are not caught out being ‘phobic’. As long as you are not directly affected you don’t engage. And wonder why the John’s of this world do. (And thank God they do.)

Exactlysarah. It’s fucking terrifying. I’m afraid if my child came home with Vincent I’d be removing him from the school. They would clearly be too thick to be anywhere near children

And where on earth is the space to change your mind. How can anyone in a school who knows all the children with abusive home lives or parents who are at work all the time and so are bounced around between friends family neighbours etc ( please dont take that as a dig parents r doing the best they can with what they have just to keep a roof over their heads it's not a criticism at all) support this? so many will be young carers or have hectic home lives etc which cant be helped but will mean that the sudden onset of all the attention and being made to feel special will not be something they want to give up. And if they are treated with contempt for asking questions etc how can they change their minds? Amd where will that lead?

Terrifying doesnt even come close to describing what it is.

From that website, the irony is that Carlos the Chameleon and Molly the Mole are all about self acceptance and not changing yourself in order to fit in.

A chameleon who doesn’t change to fit in is a pretty crap chameleon.

You do know if you buy a lottery ticket, scratch card. You have no control over how that money is spent ? 500k to mermaids over five years they are in for the long haul.

This could be a looked after child.

Who is relying on the state to parent him.

And the state is facilitating anti-science ideology, downright lies, grooming and silencing anyone who asks a reasonable question.

This will have horrific consequences for young people. Particularly for those young people who are already disadvantaged and vulnerable.

LOL. I could almost think this was a full on irony / coded message alert review. Surely it is not really from AC?
Since this Aimee Challenor has their picture in their Amazon reviewer's bio, with reviews going back to 2016, I think we can assume it's the real AC.

There's more:

If Vincent were to come home to anyone for the weekend my advice would be to “lose” him.

Maybe they should take a real fox home, castrate it, and pump it full of hormones to get an idea of what ‘changing gender’ actually entails.

Binders and a strap on?

500k to mermaids over five years they are in for the long haul.
It's paid out in segments and I got the impression (though I could be wrong) that the BLF could rescind further payments if they felt Mermaids wasn't playing by the rules.

This PDF of the review of the Lottery funding sets out Mermaids' official aims. Broadly, they are supposed to provide "information, advice support and shared experiences for transgender or non-gender conforming children, young people (up to the age of 19) and their families". There's no mention of lobbying, and of course, the Lottery Fund cannot fund political and lobbying groups. So I wonder if Mermaids' latest ad campaign (the one featuring the "What am I?" baby) counts as lobbying?

Jesus I just made the connection to Vincent and furries in my head...