Let transgender pupils have party cake, teachers told

SCHOOLS have been told they should give transgender pupils a cake to celebrate their “transition”, as experts warn that teachers must be trained to deal with an “explosion” of students who no longer identity with their sex.

Delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference this week were told that changing attitudes have resulted in a “huge” surge in the number of transgender and “non-binary” people coming forward.

“Five years ago, hardly anyone in school or in university would come across a young trans person, but it’s changed substantially,” said Terry Reed, who co-founded the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES). She told teachers that they must send an “upbeat” message to pupils who no longer identify with their sex. She advised that schools should mark the transitioning of a transgender pupil with “celebratory” events such as marking the announcement of their new name with a cake.

“It doesn’t have to be cake – it’s just making it an upbeat; ‘we’re absolutely behind you and with you’ message immediately, so that it doesn’t get downbeat,” she added.

Ms Reed, who set up GIRES with her husband Bernard after fighting a landmark legal battle for their transsexual daughter, said that teachers should “dissuade parents that this is not catching”.

She also advised schools to make clear there is “zero tolerance for transphobic behaviour”.