Legal challenge over council’s trans guidance for schools

Parents plan to sue Oxfordshire County Council unless it withdraws its ‘Trans Toolkit’ from local schools, it has been reported.

Subtitled “Gender is not just pink and blue”, the booklet accuses those who express the view that there are only two genders of ‘transphobic bullying’.

Parents also raised concerns that following the guidance would force young girls to share changing facilities with boys.

Alarming

According to The Sunday Times, the council has been threatened with a judicial review unless it withdraws the guidance by January.

The Safe Schools Alliance UK (SSAUK), which is supporting the case, said the guidance ‘compels’ schools to allow male pupils to share changing rooms with girls “without parents’ knowledge or permission”.

Tanya Carter, spokeswoman for SSAUK, said: “The guidance also indicates that teachers failing to affirm the ‘gender identity’ of their pupils may face disciplinary action” and that parents who do not affirm their child’s new gender are considered “a source of harm”.

“This is extremely alarming.”

Dignity

Earlier this month it was revealed that single-sex private schools across the UK are considering admitting transgender pupils.

Head teachers at fee-paying schools have said they “would not rule out” admitting children who identify as the opposite sex.

Parents’ groups said they are prepared to take action to preserve the “safety, dignity and privacy” of young girls.

A spokesperson for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said that they would soon publish new guidance to help schools “support all children and meet their legal duties under the Equality Act”.

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