Here it is:
Officials at a primary school warned the parents of a six-year-old that he would be deemed “transphobic” if he expressed confusion when a pupil he knew as a boy was wearing a dress.
Sally and Nigel Rowe have released a letter they received from a Church of England school on the Isle of Wight after they had raised concerns that their son was confused by the behaviour of another pupil.
The letter from the school’s head teacher and the chairwoman of the governors warned that pupils would be viewed as transphobic if they demonstrated an “inability to believe a transgender person is actually a ‘real’ female or male”.
Children would also be regarded as transphobic if they exhibited “feelings of discomfort and inability to trust or connect with someone based on their transgender status” as well as a refusal to use an “adopted name or using gender inappropriate pronouns”, the letter stated.
The Rowes have claimed in a legal action that the school adopted the so-called Cornwall schools transgender guidelines, with which they strongly disagreed because of their evangelical Christian faith.
The guidelines, drafted in 2015, advise that schools create gender-neutral lavatories and allow pupils to wear clothes they feel are reflective of their gender identity, rather than their biological sex.
As a result, the parents withdrew both their sons from the school and have recently been granted permission for a judicial challenge to the Department for Education’s decision to disseminate the guidelines to state schools.
A full hearing is expected in three to six months and the Department for Education is defending the claim.
The Rowes withdrew their older son from the school in 2015 after a pupil who identified as a girl and wore female clothes caused him to become confused.
Two years later, a second pupil joined the school who identified as “gender-fluid”, alternating their appearance from one day to the next. It was after the Rowes’ second son expressed confusion that they raised the issue again with the head teacher and received the letter in response.
Speaking to The Times, Mr Rowe, 48, said “one of the main issues we struggled with in relation to the letter was that it said that if our six-year-old son did not recognise the other boy as a little girl or a little boy, then he would be deemed transphobic. And our son had to use the correct pronouns.
“I don’t think that a six-year-old has the cognisant ability to work that out, especially if the child is gender-fluid. And the letter also said that we as parents would be deemed to be transphobic if we didn’t accept that position.”
The Rowes are now authorised to teach both their children at home because their mother is a qualified primary school teacher. But the father said that the dispute with the school had created difficulties for them in the community.
“When you put your head above the parapet on an issue like this you are highly unpopular,” he said. “There was no way we could go back to the school. We weren’t welcome. And other schools here would have had problems with the fact that we were parents who had raised this issue.
“We felt it was a hostile environment. This is a very small community on the Isle of Wight.”
The parents said they previously had a good relationship with the school’s leaders and had been involved in school activities. “We did assemblies once a week,” said Mr Rowe, “and my wife ran Bible teaching sessions.”
The Rowes, who belong to the Maranatha Christian Fellowship, a non-conformist church, said that school officials remained civil but distant in light of the litigation.
However, she added that her family had received some hostile reactions. “We have had verbal abuse from some of the parents,” she said, adding that one member of the school’s staff shouted at her in front of the Rowe’s home, which is near the Needles: “Shame on you — you shouldn’t even be showing your face in Freshwater.”
Mrs Rowe added that two parents said as they walked past with their child: “Don’t talk to Sally, she’s done something really bad. And some just completely blank us. And one couple makes rude gestures to us if they drive past.”
She said: “We know that there are parents at the school who support us. But they have to whisper their support, that’s how scared they are of speaking out.”
Her husband added that the wider point behind the judicial review was to challenge “a form of contagion in the school system”. He said that “there is a huge rise in issues around transgenderism and children and the question is why? It seems to be a fad and people have been afraid to criticise.
“But now the medical establishment is beginning to see that. We need to get back to a reasonable standard of science and biology on this issue. There are men and women. Some people may feel that they are not male or female, but you will never genetically be the opposite sex.”
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We recognise that issues relating to gender identity can be complex and sensitive. Schools are best placed to work with parents, pupils and public services to decide what is best for individual children and what is best for all others in the school.”
• A Christian doctor sacked because he refused to refer to transgender people by their chosen sex will take his fight to the High Court. David Mackereth, 58, claims his Christian beliefs are being “coerced and threatened” in an attempt to “affirm” patients identifying as transgender. The A&E doctor was sacked in 2018 as a medical assessor for the Department for Work and Pensions after refusing to identify clients by their chosen gender instead of their biological sex. In 2019 he lost an employment tribunal in Birmingham, which heard how he had refused to follow orders.