Trans pupils given stickers so they are not ‘misgendered’

SCHOOLS are giving trans pupils stickers that demand they are addressed by pronouns they most identify with, it emerged yesterday.

Brighton and Hove city council has distributed them to five secondary schools and two further education colleges.

The move aims to support transgender children and help prevent ‘misgendering’ – addressing someone intentionally or accidentally with the wrong pronoun.

The stickers bear slogans such as ‘trans ally’, ‘my pronouns matter’, ‘respect my pronouns, respect me’ and ‘gender is a spectrum’.

While wearing them is optional, council bosses hope they will encourage pupils to consider how being referred to by the wrong pronoun could affect transgender youngsters’ mental health.

However, critics have warned that the scheme could backfire and lead to bullying of transgender children. The council also handed out pronoun badges to staff and members of the public at libraries, town halls and museums to mark Trans Day of Visibility, which fell on Sunday.

They read ‘My pronouns are...’ followed by either she, her, hers; he, him, his; or they, them and theirs. There is also a blank badge where people can fill out their own pronouns, one which says ‘trans ally’ and another which states ‘please use my name’.

Trans rights campaigner Sophie Cook, 51, who ran as Labour Parliamentary candidate for Worthing in 2017, said: ‘The problem is that people look at one incident of misgendering and think it’s just one word. But it’s not just one word, it is that word ten times a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. It has a cumulative effect which chips away at a person’s identity.’

But Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said the ‘politically-correct’ scheme could unintentionally ‘make children feel different’. He stressed: ‘We absolutely need to support transgender children, but what this does is draw attention to children who may be uncertain about their identity. It’s likely to attract bullying and attention, which might be even more traumatic.’

But a Brighton and Hove city council spokesman insisted: ‘The badges and stickers help raise awareness that you can’t assume someone’s gender identity and the pronouns they use.

‘We know from a range of evidence that gender is more complicated than is traditionally recognised. We all define our own gender and we should respect other people’s identities and rights.’

Last year, schools in the Brighton area were issued with a ‘gender guidance tool kit’ to ensure transgender children felt included.

Staff were told they must adhere to the advice, which promotes shared toilets, mixed sports and the right for pupils to dress in either male or female uniform.