Parents have persuaded Warwickshire County Council to formally withdraw misleading guidance on transgenderism.
Issued in 2018 to 300 schools, the ‘Trans Inclusion Toolkit for Schools’ advised schools to allow transgender pupils to use the toilets, changing rooms and dormitories of their choice.
Last month, Warwickshire County Council ditched an explicit and error-strewn sex-ed policy, following a legal threat from The Christian Institute.
‘Outrageous’
The controversial toolkit claimed that boys who identify as girls should be permitted to “sleep where they feel most comfortable” and “use the toilet you want to use”.
It was initially withdrawn last summer following criticism. It has now been formally suspended and placed under review.
Local mother Tessa McInnes said: “The equal rights of girls are simply discounted and disregarded in this guidance. If they express any discomfort about a male coming into their spaces, the girl is presented as transphobic and told to go and change somewhere else. It’s outrageous and defies the Equality Act 2010.”
A spokesman for Warwickshire County Council said the issue is “an evolving complex area” and that the guidance is now under review.
Privacy
Last week, a 13-year-old girl was granted permission by the High Court to take landmark legal action against Oxfordshire County Council over similar controversial guidance concerning transgender pupils.
When she launched the case in February, the teenager known as Miss A said: “Under these guidelines I have no right to privacy from the opposite sex in changing rooms, loos or on residential trips”.
“The guidance makes me feel that my desire for privacy, dignity, safety, and respect is wrong.”
The case is expected to be heard in the autumn.
Explicit
Last month, Warwickshire County Council ditched an explicit and error-strewn sex-ed policy following a legal threat from The Christian Institute.
The Council’s All About Me materials contained explicit images as part of a policy which also failed to apply equality, human rights or education law correctly.
The Institute had warned it put schools at risk of breaching their legal obligations.
Council lawyers contacted the Institute to say the programme had been dropped “with immediate effect”.
Also see:
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13-year-old girl launches legal challenge over trans guidance for schools