"They can request another space"

[BlackAlys]

Still reeling after an inset day talk on Diversity and Inclusion. The group delivering the 2.5 hour long class showed us a video of a trans girl, primary age, happily playing with friends and their parents saying how wonderful it all was.

This very feminine looking transgirl has, in my Headteacher's mind, become the poster child who represents all children who are transitioning and he has now proclaimed a push for all trans pupils to be allowed to toilet, change, swim, play with wherever they are comfortable.

Before now, our teenage trans pupils have been offered an individual changing area/toilet cubicle for their modesty and dignity. It's worked. We don't have trans girls...yet.

I run residential trips tied to my subject area and asked about the sleeping arrangements, should the situation arise. The Headteacher now feels that a transgirl should be able to share dormitories and changing areas with girls and trans is to share with the boys.

I pointed out that our pupils with strong religious faiths will not be able to/wouldn't want to; also that the vulnerable girls with haunted pasts won't want to; I pointed out that, bottom line, we have sex segregation for a very good reason and the very basic right of dignity and privacy should be respected. I asked him how that will be navigated and he replied that if a girl objects, then she can sleep/be catered for elsewhere.

It's gutted me. Girls, move out if you don't like it.

I pointed out that Sex is a protected characteristic and he shrugged and said that we have to evolve with how society is changing.

I asked him how his daughter would feel about his desire to throw her rights to privacy away, and he told me she'd be fine with it.

He's seen had heated the story of the little transgirl and he is utterly captured.

I know my card is now marked and am wondering how I'll be treated upon my return.

Well done for standing up for the rights, dignity and safety of all the female pupils in your school BlackAlys.
By advocating for your pupils, despite the potential cost to yourself you’re teaching them that they matter too and I can’t think of a better example to set. Brave.

Yes well done OP. I'm with SSAUK. Do get in touch with us, we'd like to help if we can.

I really worry about my transboy pupils when policies like this are talked about. At my school currently we have no transgirls, but we have 2 transboys who have chosen to use the disabled toilet when possible, and the girls' changing rooms (ie of their biological sex) because they feel safer. The girls were happy with this as well.
I would hate to see a policy that forced them to use the boys' changing rooms and toilets because a transgirl wants to use the girls' and it gets forced through. I really do think our teenage transboys are being made so vulnerable by some of this campaigning by - from what I can see - predominantly adult male-bodied people. The girls are vulnerable but at least they have safety in numbers.

And there we have it: @QuarantineQueen 's fears suggest that a lot of TRA activist policies are actually quite transphobic ...

@BlackAlys I made the point about toilets because there are legal definitions and it's important to always bring people back to the fact that a) gender neutral isn't a thing or have a basis in law and b) what is actually being spoken about is mixed sex toilets.

Reinforce the mixed sex toilet message abs people will start to listen. I'm in a similar situation locally myself.

Good luck to you.

My DD is in Yr 5 and I think the local secondary school has recently had a revamp and the toilets have been converted to mixed sex - a line of cubicles and then a trough of sinks outside , open to the corridor. Anecdotally I heard that the children themselves have decided one set of toilets to the left of the corridor are for girls and the right hand side for boys - but this wouldn’t stop boys going to the opposite side if they felt like it.

I spoke to a female teacher there and she basically shrugged and said everything’s going gender neutral and no point fighting it.
I don’t know when schools will have open days again but I will certainly ask about toilets and changing rooms.

But if they’ve already built the mixed sex toilets - then they won’t rebuild now. What can I do? They are an Academy , and a few months back all the parents received a big questionnaire about Diversity and Inclusion - with I noted attached definitions from Stonewall - including transphobia, gender stuff, about 100 various terms and definitions .
I filled in as much as I could about single sex needs , female etc - I imagine most parents wouldn’t even have given it a second glance but I do wonder what it’s intention was.

I will certainly be looking at the other school available for my DD too (bit further away but may not have been Stonewalled).

I always wondered why not just plan for unisex toilets- self contained with sinks if they are adamant on going gender neutral? Sort of happy middle ground there.

The headteacher must be insane. Why have so many people lost their minds over this?

Putting a biologically male teenage boy in a shared dormitory with a group of girls is asking for trouble. Why does he think we segregate teenagers (and indeed children) by sex in the first place?

Putting a biologically female teenage girl in a shared dormitory with a group of boys is even worse. The absolute horror of what might happen in that situation almost doesn't bear thinking about.

@piddocktrumperiness

I always wondered why not just plan for unisex toilets- self contained with sinks if they are adamant on going gender neutral? Sort of happy middle ground there.

Presumably they’re more expensive, if you need a certain amount of toilets. You need a sink for each toilet, so I’m assuming there’d be either fewer toilets, because of space or more sinks than normal.

@RoyalCorgi

The headteacher must be insane. Why have so many people lost their minds over this?

Putting a biologically male teenage boy in a shared dormitory with a group of girls is asking for trouble. Why does he think we segregate teenagers (and indeed children) by sex in the first place?

Putting a biologically female teenage girl in a shared dormitory with a group of boys is even worse. The absolute horror of what might happen in that situation almost doesn't bear thinking about.

Agreed. The 'capture' has happened to the extent that people don't see the facts and implications in black and white here.

"I pointed out that Sex is a protected characteristic and he shrugged and said that we have to evolve with how society is changing."

Except this is a lie. A certain part of society, i.e. the gender cult is pushing this, the rest of society rejects this. As does the law, still.

@MrGHardy

"I pointed out that Sex is a protected characteristic and he shrugged and said that we have to evolve with how society is changing."

Except this is a lie. A certain part of society, i.e. the gender cult is pushing this, the rest of society rejects this. As does the law, still.

Percieved changes in societal values should not trump the law.

Except this is a lie. A certain part of society, i.e. the gender cult is pushing this, the rest of society rejects this. As does the law, still.

I'd wager most of society doesn't know about the ins and outs of it.

@MrGHardy

"I pointed out that Sex is a protected characteristic and he shrugged and said that we have to evolve with how society is changing."

Except this is a lie. A certain part of society, i.e. the gender cult is pushing this, the rest of society rejects this. As does the law, still.

That’s a shocking statement. What other legal school requirements does he think a bit passé so is cutting out? Does the board of governors feel the same way about this? I feel like the everyone’s invited website instantly disproves any argument ‘oh that’s an extreme example, wouldn’t happen here.’