by Les May
SOMETIME
this month draft guidelines drawn up by the Equalities and Human
Rights Commission (EHRC) are expected to be sent to English and
Welsh schools. The Scottish government cancelled what are assumed to
be similar guidelines in June.
A
leak of the new guidelines suggests that schools would be advised and
sometimes required to open areas of school life that have previously
been treated as separate on the basis of sex to children who identify
as that gender. A boy who identifies as a female would be allowed to
use girls’ changing rooms and on school trips could legally be
placed in the same bedroom as a girl, and vice versa.
A
women’s advocacy group, Fair Play for Women, has argued that
whilst the EHRC guidelines consistently protect children who identify
as ‘trans-gender’ equal weight has not been given to protecting
girls. They go on to say it must be made explicit that sex and
gender identity are different, and that it is important that girls to
be able to recognise and name the male sex as otherwise the right of
girls to assert their boundaries, e.g. with regard to touching, is
taken away.
See
also:
Under
the guidelines if a girl feels uncomfortable that a child she
identifies as a boy, but who self identifies as a girl, is using a
girls’ changing room then it is the girl who feels awkward who
must go and change elsewhere, not the boy.
In
2018-19 the number of children, some as young as three (3),
identifying as ‘trans-gender’ was 2,590 according to the Gender
Identity Development Service (GIDS) of the NHS. This is 30
times (3000%) more than ten years ago. A governor of the NHS
trust under which GIDS operates resigned this year concerned about
the ‘affirmative model’ used by GIDS too quickly leads to the
prescription of puberty blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones. He
also suggested that in some cases the difficulties which some
children have, and which become identified as being about gender
identification, may in fact be because they have become aware of
their sexual orientation. In common parlance ‘they are gay’.
This suggestion deserves serious consideration.
When
the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee
took evidence for their
report, Enforcing the Equality Act: the law and the role
of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
it
received submissions from members of the public. Two of these were:
‘We
desperately need legal clarity on the terms ‘transgender’
‘transsexual’,
and
‘gender reassignment’—I think [the] way they are currently
being
used,
and the way the [Equality Act] interacts with the GRA 2004, is being
abused,
misused, misapplied and misrepresented.’
‘The
combined effect of the [Gender Recognition
Act]
and the [Equality Act] is to conflate sex and gender
irretrievably, and what remains is a rat’s nest of contradictions,
where sex-based rights cannot be properly invoked.’ (My
emphasis)
I
agree entirely with the two submissions quoted above. The media use
the word ‘trans’ and ‘trans-gender’ interchangeably and with
no clarity about what is meant when they are used. Ditto when
‘non-binary’ and ‘gender fluid’ are used. This makes the
situation more opaque when clarity is what is needed.
As
the law stands schools have to provide lunchtime meals suitable for
Muslim children. If the guidelines soon to be issued by the EHRC are
enacted Muslim girls could find themselves sharing a bedroom with
someone they, and their and other parents, identify as a boy. Expect
trouble!
My
apologies to rats everywhere for dragging them into the ‘trans’
argument. You deserve better.
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