‘My daughter was radicalised by a cult-like LGBT club in school’

saying it can lead to children pursuing a “medical pathway” which may not be in a their best interests. Social transitioning is when someone begins to live as their preferred gender in public, for example, changing pronouns, wearing different clothing and going by a different name.

Within months of joining the LGBT club, Holly, who her mother says had never been uncomfortable as a girl, announced in a Christmas card to her parents she had become their “trans son”, signing it with her male name.

“We thought we were the first ones to know, but it turned out we were last,” Joanne said.

“She was on to her second male name, and she had been using boys’ names at the school for months. We had been left completely in the dark.

“I went along with the new name for a while. But as soon as I started to ask questions about what was going on at the school, I was met with a wall of secrecy.” Joanne says she asked the school and LGBT Youth Scotland to send her the “charter” the school was

‘They isolated her from her family, told her to keep secrets and filled her head with extreme ideas’

implementing, as part of its push to win accreditation from the charity.

She says they both sent her the same one-page poster with no details about the actual requirements. Documents obtained by released through freedom of information laws, show the school was operating a policy stating parents should not be told if their child has transitioned without their explicit permission.

The setting-up of an LGBT club and the prominent display of flags was another condition set out by the charity to receive charter status. At the time, the school had a bronze award but was working towards silver status.

“When she joined the LGBT club I emailed the school to explain she was fascinated with flags and lists,” Joanne said. “She was desperate to fit in so I suspected where it might end up.

“They said they would keep an eye on her and told me there was nothing to worry about. So when we found out she had been using a male name, I began to ask questions. I just got silence so I went down a bit of a rabbit hole.” Joanne says she checked her daughter’s phone and emails and found worrying material shared between students in the LGBT club.

Themes included self-harm and anime-style imagery with a sexual element. She also uncovered messages from the teacher who was part of the “allies” group regarding a celebration of “National Coming Out Day”, which LGBT Youth Scotland tells its charter members to promote. The teacher, in another message, berated pupils for not making enough suggestions for “pride week” and bemoaned the fact the group was run largely by adult staff rather than led by the students.

Joanne believes the school was effectively encouraging pupils to “come out” as trans, to the acclamation of their peers. After finding the material on Holly’s phone, she pulled her child out of the school but discovered that others in the area had also signed up for the LGBT scheme.

One, Dunbar Grammar, organised a Happy Fest event in 2020 including two drag acts, with one called Auntie Climax. It also endorses notions to children that there are genders such as “gender-fluid”, meaning to “identify as different genders at different times”.

Joanne said she believes in state education but sending her daughter to a private school in England was “the only way to get my daughter away from LGBT Youth Scotland. She now has no issues whatsoever with her gender. But had she stayed in that school, it was so embedded within her friendship group that there is no way she would have turned away from that.

“There’s every possibility she would have ended up on a medical pathway.

“My child was vulnerable and they exploited that. They isolated her from her family, told her to keep secrets from us and filled her head with extreme ideas. That is what cults do and I feel that this scheme is a statefunded radicalisation of children.”

LGBT Youth Scotland says its charter scheme is followed by more than 200 secondaries. Despite describing itself as Scotland’s national charity for LGBTQ+ people aged 13-25, it has expanded into primary schools, with at least 40 signed up.

Miriam Cates, co-chairman of the New Conservatives group of MPs, said the charity’s advice to schools “breaks all safeguarding protocols”. LGBT Youth Scotland did not respond to a request for comment. East Lothian council has said its policies were in line with SNP government guidance.