Not again! - Government is proposing to allow trans-identifying boys into under 18s girls’ school sport - unless it is deemed unsafe

[Another2Cats]

Very much as the title. An account I follow on Twitter/X @ SEENinSport posted this tweet.

https://x.com/SportSEENuk/status/2041037786082329070?s=20

Apparently there is an open consultation from the Dept for Education

'Keeping children safe in education: 2026 proposed revisions'

One of these revisions is that schools may choose to allow boys to take part in girls sports. There are also other issues about 'social transitioning'

It says that there are "some" sports that "may" need to be played in single-sex groups from a certain age. Frankly though, I can't think of any school sports that shouldn't be single-sex activities.

Apart from these sort of 'maybe' sports, the new guidance says that schools will need to consider any boys requesting to play in girls sports in light of the advice on "considering requests for support with social transition"

This is from paras 96 and 97 of the draft proposed changes:

96 Some sports may need to be played in single-sex groups from a certain age to ensure children’s safety, and where this is the case there should be no exceptions. In other cases, schools or colleges may have adopted a policy of single-sex sports for reasons related to fairness.

97 Where there are no safety concerns and a child makes a request relating to
how they participate, schools and colleges will need to consider the request in light of the advice on “considering requests for support with social transition”. This means that the school or college would need to take into account all the relevant factors, including whether supporting social transition is overall in the best interests of the child, as well as considering the impact on other children and the aim of creating safe and fair environments for children to participate in PE.

Frankly, the whole thing about even considering "supporting social transition" is entirely wrong, I feel.

Link to the proposed revisions:

https://consult.education.gov.uk/independent-education-and-school-safeguarding-division/keeping-children-safe-in-education-2026-revisions/supporting_documents/keeping_children_safe_in_education_2026_draft_for_consultationpdf-1

.

SEENinSport has suggested the following:

The survey has 41 questions but Q35 is the key one for sport

If you only have a couple of minutes, you can press return for each question till you reach Q35

They also have a link to suggested answers here:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/67fa41451fd5090aa3fb410b/t/69ceb2a41c966b1fc3a00b94/1775153828864/KCSIE+SEEN+in+Sport+response+Feb+2026+%286%29.pdf

and their website page on the issue is here:

https://www.seeninsport.org/consultation-on-kcsie-2026

The consultation is open until 22nd April and if you wish to contribute your thoughts on any of the questions then the government consultation form is here:

https://consult.education.gov.uk/independent-education-and-school-safeguarding-division/keeping-children-safe-in-education-2026-revisions/consultation/intro/

I dont think black girls are as bothered by mixed sex sports overall. Maybe because we tend to be more athletic than our white counterparts and so we arent as scared to compete.

if we are determined to go there, I think black girls deserve the same safeguarding as white girls, and the existence of objections from the girls themselves are the least of all reasons why a girls-only sport shouldn’t introduce selected boys. It’s wrong even if no girl objects.

The boxer (and the runner) in the example I gave is male.

It's irrelevant whether or not males who compete against females are transwomen.

And yes, some women have beaten both Khelif and Semenya in the past. However, that doesn't make it fair that they are competing in the women's events (or safe, in the case of boxing).

Edited to add: so to bring it back to the theme of this thread... Some sports lessons at school need to be single-sex. Some don't. In this example, everyone could do athletics together as a lesson but in competition it would be single-sex. Where single-sex is deemed necessary, nobody from the opposite sex should be allowed.

Maybe we don't see complete isolation from the boys aas safeguarding in Black cultures. We might see it more like weird social isolation based on the fragility of girls in other, more dominant cultures.

The fact that some women can beat some men (unfit as I am, I could outrun my 79 year old father) is irrelevant. Thousands of school boys could beat female Olympic athletes (including black women):

https://boysvswomen.com/#/

Not understanding or applying safeguarding is not a good thing.

The boxer in your example was raised female and has some sort of genetic condition. That isn't the same as someone who was born and raised as a male and has normal male anatomy etc. It isn't as simple as a man putting on a bra and turning up at boxing. It is disingenuous to say otherwise and it means that people won't even listen to the facts about their condition as it seems like you are lying for nefarious reasons.

Obviously, Khelif is able to be beaten by women despite not being the same as them. That means people who aren't women arent always stronger and better than those who are women.

It means he's a mediocre male boxer

I think from hearing all your views on this, I definitely wont be raising my daughters to whine about competition against boys. In fact I will encourage her participation in as much mixed sex sport as possible, so she develops the belief in herself that I have. I would hate for her to think "oh there's a boy so I have no contribution to make now".

So i thank you all for that. I definitely don't want one of those children.

This.

That means people who aren't women arent always stronger and better than those who are women.

As I have just noted, I am able to outrun my 79 year old father. But that is irrelevant to whether women and girls need single sex sport.

Mediocre males exist and that's why women shouldn't assume they will always lose against them.

Serena Williams wants to keep men out of women's tennis

If the only man you can outrun is 79 years old, then you must be in really poor shape. Getting fitter and stronger will help you feel empowered. Then you'll soon be able to outrun fat younger men, too..

I think it’s profoundly unhelpful hypothesizing about other cultures when the EA2010, FWS, and this guidance all exist in this culture. Other cultures truly can have less misogyny, or more misogyny, and it can appear in different guises.

I also don’t think that “complete isolation from boys” is offered, desired, or intended, so there’s an element of straw man about your point. In fact a school was rightly punished by Ofsted for doing that and their case forms a powerful part of equalities case law (Al Hijra). I’m not intending to be contentious, and I take your point about being careful not to give the impression that girls are always weak and always have to be “protected” from boys. The arguments apply both ways - boys deserve fair competition and their privacy and dignity too.

Khelif was assumed (incorrectly) to be a girl until puberty. This article covers this particular DSD sensitively and well:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34290981

But it still remains the case that humans are either male or female. School sports policies need to recognise this and keep PE and fair. No child should be treated as if they were the opposite sex for this.

This DSD is very rare but there may be schools in the UK that encounter children with it. If so, impacted children will need support (from outside school as well) to understand what's happening to them. But they will also need to follow any single-sex sports policies at school.

Edited to add:

It is disingenuous to say otherwise and it means that people won't even listen to the facts about their condition as it seems like you are lying for nefarious reasons.

I genuinely have no idea what you're referring to here. Nothing I've said is a lie. As for nefarious reasons...?!

My father is not fat. He is old. In your culture are you taught that old people cannot compete? I will be raising my child not to whine about competition with younger people.

Whether you want to believe it or not, whether it’s a comfortable thought for you or not, the truth is that if a scrawny short man my age in normal physical health decided he want to push me into a wall and assault me, my chances of physically fighting him off and winning are small.

I am a woman of average fitness, i regularly lug furniture around and will take on tasks I shouldn’t be able to physically do alone like building a massive shed with no help. I’m not weak and I am determined and stubborn but I am not physically as strong as a man. No amount of positive thinking or self-confidence will change that.

I mean, they do break though. This is like pretending men killing 2-3 women a week never happens or it their fault somehow for not being strong enough.

Pretty vile to be honest. But totally expected from the sort of people who pretend this is about mixed sex sports when it is not but there you go.

We have to remind girls … That they can be strong and fast, too, and that isnt always the way you win, anyway.

If the sport in question is about being fast, or strong, then yes, it really is the way you win. I’m not seeing a lot of logic being applied here.

This particular poster just plops all over the place being contrarian and patronising. No idea if they believe the mince they come out with, but they won't stop, ever concede a point or come out with anything resembling proof, so best to move on after a bit IMHO.

Its always the same.

Boys want to be in the girls spaces and opportunities. The rationale is that these boys aren't the same as other boys, then its that there isn't many of them. Then the idea of girls spaces and opportunities is questioned.

It reflects TRA position - if boys/men cant be included, the spaces and opportunities cannot exist.

It never jumps directly to 'why would these boys need to be separated from other boys, they aren't weaker, the idea that they are is cultural/old fashioned/sexist'.

Noted, thanks. You could warn about the straw man arguments, also.

Black girls absolutely do deserve the same safeguarding as white girls. The strong black woman stereotype is so incredibly racist and dehumanising, to the point that sometimes black children, especially black girls are adultified.

Now, as for the OP, from what I can glean from the policy (I will have a closer read when I have more time), whether an activity is mixed sex or single sex isn't the issue, schools already make arrangements for whether an activity should be one or the other. The issue is that if a pupil requests to access to an opposite sex activity in the context of "social transition" and everything that flows from that.

This.

Whilst it's frustrating to see it playing out on this thread, it's even more frustrating to see it on its way to being baked into the KCSIE guidance. I really hope that there is enough of a common sense awakening to stop that from happening.

There will be plenty of voices, like the one on this thread, arguing for everything to be mixed sex because it's (supposedly) more empowering for girls. That's pretty much what my daughters' school said when they moved all PE lessons to mixed sex. It's quite a compelling message until it butts up against reality.

Serena Williams has said - ‘If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in 5 to 6 minutes, maybe 10 minutes. It’s a completely different sport.’

Navratilova says about her former (trans) coach, Renee Richards: ‘Renee was in her forties, not training particularly hard. I was number one in the world and I had my hands full to beat her. I think that says everything you need to know.’

It’s Lovely for you that you are strong and physically able. My daughters and DiL are all very intent on being as strong as they can possibly be, revelling in it.

However, let’s not pretend that little girls, and young women, are generally as physically adept and strong as men. That’s just setting girls up to fail, and is simply unfair.

it’s not about manning up. It’s about biological difference and fairness.