Trans chiefs ‘ bullying’ schools over gender ID

A TRANS charity has been accused of urging parents to send ‘ bullying’ letters to schools if they question a pupil’s gender identity.

Bosses at Mermaids have drafted a template that can be posted to teachers and senior management if parents are ‘concerned about a decision that your child’s school is planning to make or has made’.

running to three pages, the letter is said to have been drawn up for the charity by solicitors.

In one section, the template appears to try to undermine draft transgender guidance published by the Department for Education last month. this advice indicates that neither parents nor pupils should be ‘ compelled’ to use any child’s adopted pronoun. It also indicates that schools should protect singlesex spaces and keep boys out of girls’ sport. But there are loopholes in the guidance, including a stipulation that children use the toilets and changing rooms for their biological sex ‘unless it will cause them distress to do so’.

In relation to school decisions based on the guidance, the Mermaids letter reads: ‘[I am/we are] concerned that in coming to the above decision, [name of school] has prematurely relied on the draft, non-statutory Department for Education guidance regarding “Gender Questioning Children”.

‘Please note that the Draft Guidance is currently out for consultation and is not a finalised version. It is difficult to see how the school can therefore currently rely on it in any capacity. However, [name of school] needs to be mindful that any guidance, (statutory or non-statutory) in this area does not override its obligations it owes to [name of child] as a matter of law.’

the letter has been criticised by women’s rights groups who warned schools needed support to prevent ‘harassment from lobby groups’.

Maya Forstater of sex Matters, a human rights group, said: ‘Mermaids’ latest campaign is a glimpse of exactly the kind of bullying that schools across the country will be subjected to unless the Department for Education brings out a model policy as part of its new guidance.

‘the onus should not be on individual schools to decide on a particular day whether it is safe and fair for a particular boy to be allowed to play on the girls’ team or use the girls’ changing rooms.

‘schools need to have clear rules that protect all children and make expectations clear. the schools guidance is helpful in many areas but it suggests that schools have discretion to treat some girls as boys and some boys as girls.

‘this leaves schools open to pressure to negotiate with children and intimidation from transactivist lobby groups.’

Heather Binning of the Women’s rights network said many parents and teachers welcomed the longawaited trans guidelines, adding: ‘We are astonished that Mermaids is trying to undermine it by drafting this letter and encouraging parents to send it to headteachers.’

Mermaids was contacted for comment. the Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into the charity in november 2022 amid concerns over its governance and management.

‘Left open to pressure’