Let boys wear tutus, says Church of England
PRIMARY school boys should be allowed to wear tutus and high heels if they want to, the Church of England has said in its first guidance for teachers on transgender issues.
Children should not be restricted by their gender when dressing up, and girls should be able to wear a tool belt and fireman’s helmet if they choose, the document says.
The guidance for teachers in Church of England schools, endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, says that children “should be at liberty to explore the possibilities of who they might be without judgment or derision”.
The document emerges as a growing number of children are coming forward to express doubt about their assigned gender.
Figures released earlier this year by the Gender Identity Development Service show that the number of under-18s referred to the north London clinic has grown from 314 in 2011 to 2,016 last year.
The guidance says: “A child may choose the tutu, princess’s tiara and heels and/or the fireman’s helmet, tool belt and superhero cloak without expectation or comment. Childhood has a sacred space for creative self imagining.”
The document also says young children “should be afforded freedom from the expectation of permanence: “They are in a ‘trying on’ stage of life, and not yet adult and so no labels need to be fixed.”
Teachers in Church of England
schools should “avoid labels and assumptions which deem children’s behaviour irregular, abnormal or problematic just because it does not conform to gender stereotypes or today’s play preferences,” it adds.
Introducing the document, entitled Valuing All God’s Children, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said: “All bullying, including homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying causes profound damage, leading to higher levels of mental health disorders, self-harm, depression and suicide. Central to Christian theology is the truth that every single one of us is made in the image of God.”
An increasing number of schools have begun to liberalise their uniform policy to allow boys to wear skirts and dresses if they wish.
Under-18s who say they have been born in a body which does not match their gender are not offered surgery, but are sometimes given hormones which suppress puberty. Figures released to the Mail on Sunday earlier this year suggest that more than 800 children are receiving this treatment.
The Church guidance adds that secondary school pupils should be allowed to “‘try on identities for size”, explaining that teenagers “need to be offered the freedom that was afforded to the child in nursery of the metaphorical dressing up box of trying on identities without assumption or judgment”.
Charities and LGBT organisations welcomed the document.
Javed Khan, the chief executive of Barnardo’s, said: “Respecting the unique worth of every person is an integral part of Barnardo’s values, so we wholeheartedly welcome this move by the Church of England.”