EHRC draft schools guidance (mentions changing facilities for trans pupils)

[hethor]

I may have missed a thread, but there's some new draft guidance from the EHRC on schools out for consultation: www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/technical-guidance-schools-consultation

Notably, it gives this admirably clear example:

A secondary school is considering how to provide appropriate changing facilities for a trans pupil who identifies as a girl. The school must provide single-sex changing facilities and showers for children who do physical education at the school. It is therefore not permissible to allow the pupil to use the girls’ changing room. The school decides that the pupil must use the boys’ changing room. This is unlikely to be justified and so is likely to be unlawful indirect gender reassignment discrimination. A suitable alternative might be to allow the pupil access to a single-user, lockable changing room, which might be a staff changing room or a mixed-sex accessible bathroom.

You're right that 'No-one here is suggesting that trans people change sex', but that's the basis for Boy X claiming that he is now a girl and refusing to use the boys' facilities.

Boy X remains a boy, does not and cannot change sex, so why does a school have to find an alternative space for him?
Because he doesn't feel comfortable sharing with classmates of his own sex?

Lots of children don't feel comfortable sharing communal facilities - they are shy, they have body image issues, etc - so in fairness shouldn't they also have alternative spaces as Boy X? Why is Boy X's discomfort about having to share facilities different from any other child's?

And from a practical point of view, how are schools going to deal with the demands of all these uncomfortable children?

I know a lot of people disagree with this topic, but trans people don’t change sex and it is not the basis for the child saying they are a girl. It’s about identity and the gender dysphoria that is caused by the mismatch between body and brain. I’d say it’s more accurate to say that child is presenting as a girl because that is what makes them more comfortable. They are not allow to use women’s spaces because they are not female, but they so deeply reject their birth sex they are going to experience distress in the male facilities.

Generally, the level of distress between someone with gender dysphoria and someone a bit shy is going be much more severe for someone with gender dysphoria, so that is why it could be indirect discrimination and adjustments should be made.This is why depression is commonly seen alongside gender dysphoria.

There should be one unisex toilet opposite reception, as is stipulated in most school designs. This could be kept an eye on. There should be accessible toilets directly off the corridor on each floor, as happens now. Then single sex cubicles (with door gaps) within a single sex environment containing hand basins. Ambulant toilet designs would be within the single sex suite. Ideally, the accessible toilets would be within the single sex accomodation too (with door gaps), but that’s the dream.

The advantages would be that provision is safer and healthier for everyone. The disadvantage is that children with paruresis or bowel conditions will not get so many toilets to choose from.

Private designs attract misuse. Sex, drugs, hidden cameras. They cost more, are less easy to clean and ventilate and therefore contain more pathogens. It takes much longer to realise a child is in trouble in them. They are a pain during fire drills for quick evacuations as it takes so much longer to check.

Even children themselves complain about been pushed in, bullied, smells and dirt of enclosed designs. Often schools will restrict use as they can’t keep an eye on children in private toilets.

This is a quote from a child who really wants to use a ‘gender neutral’ design but is complaining how others treat the one on each floor: it’s not uncommon that the four small bathrooms are filled with sex, drugs or vaping. We need to address these problems, or the gender-neutral bathrooms will continue to be the most disgusting in the school….I consider everything in the third floor bathroom a biohazard. Almost every time I make the mistake of going in, I leave trying to purge my mind of the horrors I just witnessed. Whether it is people having sex, poop smeared on the walls, or the toilet being clogged with an entire roll of toilet paper, horrible things have happened in that bathroom.’

Some schools have spent a lot of money buying in alarms systems for ‘single use’ toilets, because of the problems caused by privacy. This causes problems as children don’t like being monitored understandably. What’s to say the alarm isn’t a camera? The alarms can monitor how many children are in each toilet compartment, it anyone is vaping, and if they say ‘stop it’ or ‘help me’ they will send a text alert to a member of staff.

It is not as good as a door gap as it doesn’t tell you if a child is having a mental or physical emergency and has collapsed. It doesn’t prevent the toilet from being vandalised or someone vaping in them. In addition the alarms go off so often that they are often switched off. Children will set the alarms off on purpose.

The first mixed sex private design produced as a standard non domestic design was the disabled toilet. Radar keys were introduced because of the misuse (sex, drugs).

There has been no risk assessment or equality impact assessment done on these private designs.

What I have done is look at real life incidents and seen how design affects outcomes. That’s how I can justify my conclusions.

I agree of course that trans people don't change sex, but TRAs don't agree with us - 'TWAW and how dare you be so transphobic as to suggest that TW are not exactly the same as any other woman?'
Or Dr Upton in the Sandie Peggie case stating that he was now a woman - a biological woman?

So although some transpeople may have different takes on what they've transitioned from/to, it's as likely that Boy X in the example given is claiming to actually be a girl as a boy 'presenting as a girl'.

A child who has such deep-seated distress about their body is in need of a lot of support to help them accept and love their body as it is, including the reality of the sex they were born into.

Boy X has a right to be told the truth, and to be supported to accept the truth.
It seems cruel to encourage him to believe that if he presents as female, he will become or be seen as or treated as female, when the truth is that some point reality is going to catch up with him - the reality that he can never change sex, that he will always be male, and will probably always look male, that he will never be a woman.

As you can see , I feel very strongly about the rights of gender-dysphoric children, because I was one.
I was so lucky that social transitioning, PBs, hormones, surgery etc were not available when I was a little girl, because I fear I would have done anything and everything I could to avoid becoming a woman, and I dread to think what my mental and physical health would be like now if I had taken any of those routes.

In the absence of these 'solutions', I had to learn to accept the truth of who I am.

That's what I wish for Boy X and all the other boys and girls who feel so negative about their bodies - love, support and above all the truth, from their schools as well as from their families and friends.
.

I can't find any reference to a minimum age of two for the PC of GR. The Draft Code of Practice explicitly says that there is no lower age limit at all. Which seems bonkers!!

2. Who has rights under Part 3 (services and public functions) and Part 7 (associations) of the Act?

2.43 There is no minimum age for the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, which means that children and young people are protected if they are proposing to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone a process of gender reassignment.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-draft-code-of-practice-for-services-public-functions-and-associations-2026/equality-act-2010-draft-code-of-practice-for-services-public-functions-and-associations-2026#who-has-rights-under-part-3-services-and-public-functions-and-part-7-associations-of-the-act

This child has anorexia. It is up to the school to enable the anorexia to make sure the child doesn't feel uncomfortable and trigger distress in that child. Children will bulimia should be allocated time and a designated space within the school day/premises to throw up discreetly so that they aren't doing so in front of other children which may embarrass them.

Does everyone understand how bonkers this all is? Feeling uncomfortable about your body during puberty is NORMAL.

If you are socially transitioning your child or enabling your child to socially transition before the age of 18 you are not looking after their mental health or safeguarding them. There is no middle ground on this.

When are we going to actually wake the fuck up?

When children are old enough to make their own decisions, they can choose what they will tolerate or not. Until then they can not have a political ideology imposed on them in school. They're not support animals, the children who are struggling to come to terms with who they are, need specialist help, and children in schools should not be baring the burden of other children's problems, they've got their problems to deal with.

I’ve been reading such situations within the context of a pupil who’s actively being seen by gender clinic professionals. The last two kcsie made it clear that schools only treat a child as such if following professional advice under Cass recommendations

Im not saying I agree with it but it is the situation we have at the moment .

As the report into the the Brighton clinic demonstrates, children as young as 13 have been on cross sex hormones.

There’s a right royal mess to wade through over the next few years.

FWS and Cass both made provisions for trans identity.

what has changed considerably in school documentation is that sex must be taught as fact.

if it’s draft there needs to be feedback given asap.

this could absolutely be misinterpreted by schools.

The kcsie is surly due very soon which should have extensive gender questioning guidance within it but I suspect that actual toilet things will come under the EHRC guidelines and building related things.

So this could be a transition loophole.

It feels like loopholes are slowly being plugged (eg the Brighton clinic ) however that could be wishful thinking

Sorry one more point:

It doesn’t sound like it’s possible to treat the child as a boy or girl when they’re not any more.

But it does appear that it’s possible to treat them as “trans.” Which is short hand in reality, in the child’s head that they are in the “wrong body.”

technically it should be gender questioning

If they’re firmly saying this is a mental health condition and so you may change away from your sex, that is different to “we think your a girl when you’re actually a boy.” I suppose when we consider the children mostly likely to be gender questioning, the stats show they’re likely to have had trauma, sexual abuse, be autistic or otherwise some sort of vulnerability. Within that context, I can see how a separate changing space may be deemed appropriate by professionals if it’s a massive issue for the child, and is affecting access to school etc, but schools really should and must be working with professionals on this. That part is in kcsie.

Again, I’m not saying I agree with it but it’s clearly a very messy situation which could certainly be exploited.

At the very least they cannot be in the loos/ changing spaces of the opposite sex now.

Yes. I think the age of 2 was just an example but it reads as if a mentally unwell parent could deny the reality of their child's sex from birth - and the law would enable them. Again an example of how children's safety and wellbeing is undermined by this legislation.

It is a messy situation caused in major part by schools working with "policies" written by trans lobby groups that focus on their adult demands with no reference to child development, psychology, education or safeguarding.

It does seem as if the adults have belatedly entered the room and the next few years will be a challenge as schools have to centre child wellbeing and safety, replacing the adult ideology that's done so much damage to the young.

A suitable alternative might be to allow the pupil access to a single-user, lockable changing room, which might be a staff changing room or a mixed-sex accessible bathroom.

When have UK secondary schools ever had a bathroom on the premises?

The terminology is frustrating as it should fit in with building control and regulations. There are certain phrases that get copied and I can follow where they have come from. It’s not building regs!

schools working with "policies" written by trans lobby groups that focus on their adult demands with no reference to child development, psychology, education or safeguarding.

With thanks to @MrsOvertonsWindow

I know many of you are aware of this already, but for those parents with school-age children who are not aware, something to look out for in the new 2026/27 school year: Diversity Role Models and Stonewall

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5537528-diversity-role-models-and-stonewall-coming-soon-to-a-school-near-you-june-2026-announcement?page=1

I found this very useful - it is the report which cross-checks the NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services with the EA protected characteristics
EHIA: Children and Young People’s Gender Service: Service Specification for the National Referral Support Service

It has a lot of data, such as the proportion of boys/girls presenting,
[Before 2011]the split in the caseload was roughly even between natal girls and natal boys, but by 2019 the split had changed so that 76% per cent of referrals were natal females.

It makes some good observations as to possible causes, including
NHS England was encouraged to investigate and publicise the degree to which possible causations such as internalised homophobia, exposure to social media, trauma, bullying, difficulties in navigating bodily changes at puberty, experiencing sexual objectification, familial and social situations and social contagion had played a part in this trend.

It makes this point on the subject of the gender-questioning children and the PC of gender reassignment:
In January 2023 the High Court agreed that not every child or young person referred to a specialised gender incongruence service will have the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’5. The Court agreed that children and young people who are referred to such a service do not – at the point of referral or while they remain on the waiting list - share the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment’ as a class or cohort of patients.

The whole cohort of patients cannot be treated as “proposing to undergo” a process (or part of a process) for the “purpose of reassigning” their sex “by changing physiological or other attributes of sex” as a class or cohort. To apply such a definition to these individuals is to make assumptions upon the aims and intentions of those referred, the certainty of those desires, their outward manifestation, and upon the appropriate treatment that may be offered and accepted in due course.

It is case-specific, even for children in treatment - so does ' a trans pupil who identifies as a girl' acquire the PC of gender reassignment simply by telling his school that he identifies a girl?

This report addresses the issue of minimum age,

there will not be a minimum age threshold for a referral to the waiting list for the Children and Young People’s Gender Service. [7 years had been proposed] This is because Recommendation 4 of the Cass Report (April 2024) advises NHS England that pre-pubertal children should be seen as quickly as possible.

This approach may be an important safeguarding measure against children being encouraged or supported to take any premature action with regards to their gender identity which might narrow or close down future choices.

This suggests that it is preferable for very young gender-questioning children to be seen by professionals who are not going to automatically confirm the child on the path to being a transgender adult, which is the danger if they are under the influence of unregulated, non-professional, pro-trans campaigning groups.

That sounds OK in theory, as long as the GYP Gender Service stays objective and neutral about what is in the best interests of each individual child.

Personally, I wouldn't put transitioning, PB's, hormones or surgery anywhere on the spectrum of 'best interests' for anybody, but at least the stated aim is not
to take any premature action with regards to their gender identity which might narrow or close down future choices.

That's really interesting. And if i've understood it correctly, is counter to all the legal bods insisting that GR apples to little children. It prioritises the safety of children of course and relates to a service spec but presumably has been run by lawyers?

Thank you for sharing that. It makes sense why you feel so strongly about this and helping children accept their birth sex. I understand the absolute hell that is gender dysphoria. I dealt with mine in a different way to you, but I do wonder what would’ve happened if I grew up in a time when these treatments weren’t readily available. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy and my life is good, but my life would’ve obviously been much easier if I found a way to accept my birth sex.

I agree that we shouldn’t lie to children or tell them they can literally become the other sex. But I think these children need a lot of understanding while dealing with these issue and forcing a sex distressed boy into the male facilities when they are so distraught is only going to create trauma and depression.

Article from Caroline Ffiske comparing the KCSIE doc and the new EHRC consultation.
However, if the safeguarding document, KCSIE, is bad at safeguarding gender-questioning children, then the ‘rights-balancing’ organisation, the EHRC, is even worse at balancing rights – and it makes the safeguarding of vulnerable children harder for schools.On June 10th, the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) launched new draft ‘technical guidance’ to help schools comply with their duties under the Equality Act. The draft guidance is wide-ranging and anyone interested in the impact of the Equality Act, its framework of ‘protected characteristics’ and how they impact freedom and actual equality, should read it closely and respond to the consultation.
^^
dailysceptic.org/2026/07/25/the-ehrcs-new-trans-schools-guidance-puts-children-at-risk/

Thank you for this.
It again raises the issue of how the pc of gender reassignment apparently can be applied to even the youngest of babies / children thus completely subverting the rights of children to be safeguarded.

Presumably this is why all the statutory services, politicians and assorted useful idiots stand by when parents claim their toddlers are really the opposite sex? Because the rights of children to be safeguarded from harm has been undermined by the imposition of this adult demand / belief. I presume it was a deliberate act to include children in the pc of GR by those uncaring of the need to safeguard the young. But why is the rest of responsible society nodding along with it?

Or are they just unaware?