Patrick Strudwick in i newspaper.

[Gagagardener]

An article today in a paper that has been very quiet about these matters. https://app.inews.co.uk/full_page_image/page-22-1430/content.html
Help me draft concise letter in response? (The other article is included because I'm ham-fisted.)

A link to the website article, which has a different headline:

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/schools-should-be-glad-there-is-no-guidance-on-how-to-treat-trans-pupils-from-this-government-2353056

What appalling and irresponsible journalism.
Sorry, I have no words just yet.
But marking my place while I think of some.

First thing that springs to mind is that they haven't mentioned the Cass Review or it's warning that social transition is not a neutral act. I will have more words and thoughts once I've stepped back from my anger at his sheer ignorance.

Talk about a dog whistle — “turfed out onto the street”.

The opinion piece assumes two things, it seems to me:

First, that no child identifying as trans or non-binary is wrong about that, in the sense of something which lasts a whole lifetime and never changes.

Assuming this means that the opinion piece ignores any children who might be collateral damage here, the ones who are confused about who they are, think they are not whatever their sex is right now, but might change their minds in the near future. There's evidence that even simply socially transitioning is not an innocent experiment in this sense, but needs to be carefully thought out.

Second, that there are no consequences from what the writer advocates to other students. Especially to girls who he would like to see share spaces where they are vulnerable with trans girls, without any complaints. Mixed sex toilets might cause that 'holding it in' phenomenon happen to many girls, and might create a horrible experience about having a period where boys can find out about it.

That he doesn't care about that, well, he is a 'he', and also identifies with the transgender students only.

OK. So much to say, but here are the boiled down salient points from my perspective:

The columnist has conflated three separate protected characteristics from the Equality Act: (biological) sex, sexual orientation and gender reassignment.

All students, including transgender students, are protected by law against discrimination under all three. Unlike sex or sexual orientation, gender reassignment may result in children and young adults following a medical pathway to change their body to "align" it with a perceived "gender identity".

An early step in gender reassignment is "social transition", which can include a new name or pronouns that are chosen by the child to match their "gender identity". The NHS-commissioned Cass Review has stated in its interim report that social transition is not a neutral act and can lead children to "lock in" on an identity. To align with an identity, a number of children will pursue a medical pathway which "pauses" their puberty using puberty blockers. The NHS has advised that puberty blockers result in loss of bone density and has an unknown impact on a child's developing brain. If the child continues on the pathway to take cross sex hormones (available at aged 16 in the UK), they will be sterile and can expect a significant loss of sexual function. There are other physical changes associated with puberty blocker and hormone use which are also irreversible.

According to the UK gender clinic (GIDS), 98% of children who take puberty blockers will continue on to cross sex hormones. It is imperative that schools involve parents in safeguarding practices, where any child requests a social transition, so that parents may support their children to make the right decision about their future.

Hmm. A man demanding that children confused about their sex must be excluded from all safeguarding procedures, secrets kept from parents and only special "rainbow adults" are able to talk with these children about changing sex. What could possibly go wrong?

Thank you all very much. It's probably too late tonight for me to boil things to the length of a letter that they might pay attention to (I've just got in, and hadn't time to think earlier) - but this is the first time I've noticed the i giving any attention to a TRA and I feel someone shd put the other side. So I shall try.

What is he on? When a teacher starts using a new name and pronouns for a pupil they are ‘outing’ them to everyone in the school. Does he think pupils don’t talk to each other or pupils to parents or parents to other parents. Does he expect everyone to keep secrets because inevitably the parents of the child will find out even if it’s not directly from the school.

I've cobbled something together and sent it, though the Letters pages has probably been put to bed hours ago. If it is published, I'll have to name change. Sorry I couldn't include all the good points you made; and for copying and pasting ideas better expressed than I cd manage.

Saying they are outed assumes none of the other children knew the child already, or that it isn’t blatantly obvious when they go through puberty, or when they get changed for PE or swimming. The only way these children are outed is when they socially transition.

If you're saying that's a dog whistle, you're implying that there is some hidden meaning that only a subset of the audience will notice. What is that hidden meaning and which subset will understand it?

Search for articles on Trans. The i are paid up members of the gender cult.