Schoolgirls have been left behind by local councils in their haste to promote transsexual rights, a mother of two has complained.
Jess Stewart said Scottish guidance which claims it is “good practice” to allow transsexual students to share a residential room with “other young people who share their gender identity” fails to consider the effect on young women.
“In the rush to be trans inclusive, has every single adult who approved this guidance booklet completely forgotten about the needs of girls?”
Institute legal action
Her comments come as The Christian Institute threatens legal action over the guidance, saying it is misleading.
‘Supporting Transgender Young People: Guidance For Schools in Scotland’ also advises that parents should not be told if their children are sharing rooms with transgender pupils.
The Institute warned of the possibility of a Judicial Review – the same process through which it defeated the Scottish Government on the Named Person issue in the UK Supreme Court.
‘Negatively affected’
Jess Stewart asked for information on Equality Impact Assessments – which consider how people will be affected by state bodies’ actions – from local councils, the Scottish Children’s Commissioner and the Scottish Government.
But four councils, including Glasgow, said they had not carried out the assessments. Neither had the Children’s Commissioner or the Government.
Stewart, a feminist campaigner, said: “Girls are absolutely negatively affected by this.”
Right to privacy
While arguing it was important to “raise awareness of transgender children”, she said it was not “proportionate” to allow boys in girls’ changing rooms.
Stewart added: “They should at least have looked at the possible fall-out from putting a male-bodied person in changing rooms that are being used by 14, 15 and 16-year-old-girls.”
And she asked: “Do our girls mean so little to not even deserve the right of privacy?”
End blinkered approach
The Christian Institute’s Ciarán Kelly challenged the guidance saying, “such a blinkered approach to gender confusion has to end”.
He added that it “contains glaring errors in relation to the current law” and called on the Government to “step back from its endorsement of this misleading and misguided document”.