East Lothian Council has come under fire for advising schools to consider allowing gender-confused boys to share accommodation with girls.
In the council’s ‘Gender Statement’ published in March, teachers are told to allow boys to wear the uniform of the opposite sex, participate in girls’ PE classes, and share their overnight accommodation if those affected are consulted.
For Women’s Scotland (FWS) has called on the council to immediately withdraw the guidance, warning that it is “clearly unlawful and any school following its advice would be putting children in its care at risk and likely to face legal action”.
LGBT education
The guidelines state that “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) education should be integrated across all curricular areas”, while transgender “identities should be included alongside other identities in classroom/school displays, resources and learning material”.
In addition, the statement redefines biological sex as “sex assigned at birth”, and directs teachers to the pro-trans groups Time for Inclusive Education and LGBT Youth Scotland.
But FWS highlighted that the document “incorporates much of the recently withdrawn Scottish Government’s school guidance that was found to be inconsistent with the Supreme Court ruling on the Equality Act”.
Biology
In October, the Scottish Government conceded that schools are legally required to provide separate toilet facilities for boys and girls “on the basis of biological sex”.
Previous guidance stated that there was no justification in law for limiting the use of toilets and changing rooms on the basis of biological sex and that gender-confused children “should not be made to use the toilet or changing room of their sex assigned at birth”.
The changes followed the UK Supreme Court ruling that the definition of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ is determined by biology for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, and a Court of Session declaration that state schools across Scotland must provide single-sex toilets for pupils.
Sources:
https://www.helenwebberley.com/p/east-lothian-council-gender-statement
https://forwomen.scot/wp-content/uploads/East-Lothian-Council-Gender-Statement-Supporting-Transgender-Children-and-Young-People-in-Schools-Mar2026.pdf
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