New School Guidance on "Supporting Transgender Young People" in Scotland Violates Human Rights and Is Ideologically Infused, Say Critics
Scottish feminists groups and lawyers are siding with the Christian Institute who consider the new guidance introduced by the government as highly questionable and being promoting a dangerous ideology. The document states that some children "are exploring their gender identity in primary school settings", and that they can come out as transgender "at any age". It reads: “If a young person in the school says that they now want to live as a boy although their sex assigned at birth was female, or they now want to live as a girl, although their sex assigned at birth was male, it is important to provide support and listen to what they are saying.”Marion Calder, from For Women Scotland described the new guidance as "really, really worrying". Leading Human Rights Lawyer Aidan O'Neill criticised that this move goes against human rights laws and is additionally a threat to parental rights. The Government has now backtracked from their plans as the Christian Institute threatened them with legal action.
Critics of the guidance accused the Scottish Government of promoting transgender ideology, eroding parental rights and using unreliable statistics as resources. The guidance was developed in cooperation with the LGBT lobby group Stonewall, LGBT Youth Scotland, Scottish Trans Alliance and the group "Mermaids".
It was designed as a method of "Supporting Transgender Young People" in 2017. After the latest guidance was slammed the Government backtracked as they accept their plan to introduce Transgernderism in schools is "incorrect, misleading and misguided".
The document states that some children "are exploring their gender identity in primary school settings", and that they can come out as transgender "at any age". It reads: “If a young person in the school says that they now want to live as a boy although their sex assigned at birth was female, or they now want to live as a girl, although their sex assigned at birth was male, it is important to provide support and listen to what they are saying.”
Schools are advised to raise awareness that “not every child will identify as the sex they were assigned at birth”, resulting in teachers being encouraged to "challenge gender stereotypes and include transgender people", in their classes. In addition, teachers are advised to “respect a young person’s wishes and use the name/pronoun they have asked to be used”
They are also told, "to not share information with parents or carers" on a child's gender identity as this would be "the best way" to ensure the child's views are "considered and respected". For Women Scotland co-director Marion Calder, accused the Government to be pushing a very "dangerous ideology" apart from the guidance being "really, really worrying".
Former Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) Brian Monteith criticised the "level of secrecy from parents about gender transformation" and its resources for "sanctioning" them. Statistics on suicide among transgender young people have also been questioned for their reliability. Lucy Hunter Blackburn, the head of the Government's higher education division stated the data sounded really "irresponsible" and "incredibly unsound".
Simon Calvert, Deputy Director for Public Affairs at the Christian Institute stated: “The question of how best to help children and young people confused about their gender is hugely controversial. For the Scottish Government to come down so firmly on the side of trans activists is bad for schools, families and society.” Queens Council leading human rights lawyer Aidan O'Neill stated in May that the guidance for schools on transgenderism adopted by the government goes against human rights laws.
Sources: christian.org.uk
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