My takeaway for the new UK guidance on gender transitioning in schools
Please, everyone, respond to the guidance and call it out as how shit it is, don't just accept this shit.
Here is the link to respond to this attack on trans youth
https://consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-political-impartiality-anti-bullying-team/gender-questioning-children-proposed-guidance/
1. If you are under 18, are doubting/exploring your gender and wish to involve the teaching staff but not your parents, then explicitly say to them, "if my parents find out they will beat me"
This is the only way to prevent the teacher from having a legal duty to inform your parents
2. The guidance is rife with "G3nder Cri1ical" terminology, but what do you expect from the equality minister for Britain?
3. Unsupportive teachers will be able to justify their prejudice as "watchful waiting" as laid out in the guidance as step 1
Just to clarify, if a 16yo comes to ask to be referred to by a different name or pronouns step 1‽ is to not honour those requedts for an indeterminate period of time to "make sure." This will be standard across an entire country
"Does the child feel pressured to identify differently because they simply do not align with stereotypes associated with their sex? This is relevant as some people think gender identity reinforces stereotypes about men and women"
They need to spend some time on tumblr, ain't nothing about you freaks that reinforces gender stereotypes
Schools "should not unilaterally adopt any changes, including using a new name or new pronouns, unless or until this has been agreed by the school or college in accordance with the proper procedures and... parental consent"
So, any time a child considers their gender identity, there must be a school meeting about accepting it. They then go on to talk about "contested views"
But if anyone has contrary views, those are protected and "must be respected," not period of denial, and informing the parent to then hold a meeting of if those views are necessary for the school to honour.
6. "Agreeing to a child’s request to have others use different pronouns about them is a significant decision."
7. Children under the age of 11 are not allowed to have different pronouns. It's just an outright blanket ban on using gender affirming pronouns for Under 11s.
8. Over 11 well, now we have to decide if using they/them is a large enough benefit to you that it "outweighs the impact on the school community."
8. But if we do accept a pronoun change, you will still be referred to as "girls" or "boys" collectively, and we won't stop teachers or other students from not using your pronouns. Did you think this was to enforce your pronoun use? No, no, no, this is just to allow YOU to use those pronouns, god forbid a student decide for themselves how they want to be referred to!
9. Literally just explicit transphobia
"Schools and colleges should exhaust all other options, such as using first names, to avoid requiring other individuals having to use preferred pronouns"
10. The first and only mention of bullying, in full
"In all cases, bullying of any child must not be tolerated. No child should be sanctioned for honest mistakes when adapting to a new way of interacting with another pupil"
Why does that feel like they're defending transphobes from bullying? Oh, right, because that's what they are doing.
11. Did anyone expect anything different to this?
"Responding to a request to support any degree of social transition must not include allowing access to these spaces"
So, it will be a legal requirement for teachers in England to prevent trans people from going to a toilet or changing room designated for their gender.
12. This one is not a legal requirement but rather a "should" statement, which is trans children "should" be held to the same uniform status as other children of their AGAB.
I'm running out of commentary here
13. No one is surprised that trans people are once again banned in sports
The full doc for anyone willing to go through it
https://consult.education.gov.uk/equalities-political-impartiality-anti-bullying-team/gender-questioning-children-proposed-guidance/supporting_documents/Gender%20Questioning%20Children%20%20nonstatutory%20guidance.pdf
Boys, girls, and the genders we aren't allowed to mention, that is my summary of the UK government proposed guidance on trans students.
