New gender badges for children face criticism

Schoolchildren in Brighton and Hove are being offered council-backed ‘pronoun badges’ to encourage them to promote transgender ideology.

As part of the ‘My Pronouns Are…’ scheme, children will be able to wear badges which indicate their chosen ‘gender identity’.

Options include he/him/his, she/her/hers or they/them/theirs. Some badges leave a blank space for children to write their own alternative pronouns, while others mark out children as ‘trans allies’ – those who are not transgender but support the ideology.

‘Misgendering’

Alongside the badges, children are offered stickers bearing different slogans, such as “Gender is a spectrum” and “Respect my pronouns, respect me”.

While they are optional, the council want children to wear them to discourage others from ‘misgendering’ children who identify as the opposite sex.

But they have been criticised for promoting gender ideology.

‘Extremely harmful’

One online commenter said: “Children are not transgender. They don’t know who they are yet, and won’t until their raging hormones settle down after puberty.

Another said: “Gender identity is a fraud. Just because people recognise it, doesn’t make it any more real. It is extremely harmful to children and truthful science should be done on it.”

Others spoke up particularly against the Council, with one saying: “This is beyond ridiculous. Pronouns are not a choice, they are part of language.”

25 gender options

In December, it was revealed that Brighton and Hove City Council-approved guidance for primary schools said children should be told that “all genders” can have periods.

The schools’ guidance states: “Trans boys and men and non-binary people may have periods” and “menstruation must be inclusive of all genders”.

In 2016, the council also sent a survey to teenagers asking them to choose their gender from 25 different options.

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