Brits Pull WAY Back On ‘Gender Identity’ Ideology In Schools — Here’s The 411

NOTE: This article may include commentary reflecting the author’s position.
The Conservative government of the United Kingdom recently issued new “non-statutory guidance” for schools that push back on the radical gender identity ideology that became fashionable in the Western world in the last few years.

It’s a bit of a shock because the position of most Conservatives in the U.K. on social issues resembles that of the Democratic Party in the U.S. rather than that of Republicans.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, however, has been pretty clear on the “gender identity” issue.

I am looking forward to Justin Trudeau lecturing British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak;

"It shouldn't be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school.
Patience should know when hospitals are talking about men or women.
And we shouldn't get… pic.twitter.com/fLCzFkvcQw

— Kirk Lubimov (@KirkLubimov) October 4, 2023

The turn-about comes after the United Kingdom following the Cass Report that revealed that some patients of Tavistock, the lone child gender clinic in the country scheduled to close in 2024, were being rushed into life-altering medical interventions such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and mastectomies. Tavistock clinicians were also found to have ignored or downplayed mental health problems that can manifest as gender confusion while pushing patients down a path that would include gender transition surgeries once they reached adulthood. There was also a reluctance to address the sudden rise in teen girls experiencing gender dysphoria — before the 2000s, most children suffering from gender confusion were preschool aged boys.

More here:

UK’s Gender Clinic For Children Set To Close Over Safety Concerns — Here’s The 411

The new guidance doesn’t refer to children as “transgender”, insists on parental consultation if a child expresses a desire to change names and pronouns, and frowns on co-ed bathroom use.

Citing the Cass Report, the new guidance advocates for the “watchful waiting” approach to gender confusion, and says that social transition — cross-dressing, changing a name, using preferred pronouns, etc. — is “not a neutral act” and “it could have significant psychological effects on a young person.”

Supporting a child’s wish to transition may not be in the “best interests” of either the individual or all children at the school.

It also warns school employees that they shouldn’t “go rogue” and implement changes to names and pronouns of a child before a decision is made by the school and in consultation with parents.

“Knowing a child’s sex is critical to schools’ and colleges’ safeguarding duties,” states the guidance, adding that schools have “specific legal duties that are framed by a child’s biological sex.”

“Some forms of social transition will not be compatible with schools’ and colleges’ statutory responsibilities,” it states.

Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan developed the guidance, marked as a draft consultation, in tandem with Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch. It repeatedly refers to the independent review by Hilary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics.
The document is remarkable as an implicit repudiation of American elite opinion on gender identity, especially by treating children as a population with special considerations and younger children as “more vulnerable” to misunderstanding their feelings.
It refuses to even identify children as “transgender” because their sex can’t be legally changed and encourages “watchful waiting,” or refusing to immediately indulge a child’s self-identification…
…Keegan and Badenoch only mention religion once as a possible motivating factor in opposing what they call gender identity ideology. “Many people believe this concept is one that reinforces stereotypes and social norms relating to sex,” according to the “overarching principles.”…
Their parents should be consulted “as a matter of priority” when a child requests transition. “We would expect parental consent to be required in the vast majority of cases,” the document says, “other than in the exceptionally rare circumstances where involving parents would constitute a significant risk of harm to the child.”
Source: Just The News

Another aspect of the guidance is that schools should investigate the possibility of social contagion — whether peers or social media has contributed to the student’s gender confusion.

Schools should investigate whether the student has been “influenced by peers or social media” or “feel[s] pressured to identify differently because they simply do not align with stereotypes associated with their sex,” the document says.
It’s particularly concerned about the role of sexual orientation in driving children to request transitions, noting the Cass review “heard from young lesbians who felt pressured to identify as transgender males” and vice versa.
Whatever decision is reached for a given transition request, it will not implicate a child’s access to spaces reserved for the opposite sex.
“As a default, all children should use the toilets, showers and changing facilities designated for their biological sex unless it will cause distress for them to do so,” and even then, their schools “should seek to find alternative arrangements” such as single-occupant toilets and changing areas that lock from the inside. This is especially important for girls, the document says.
The same principles apply for “[b]oarding and residential accommodation,” with schools seeing whether they can accommodate students who don’t want to share a room with the same sex with a “suitable separate room.”
Source: Just The News

The guidance states that sex-differentiated uniforms do not need to be made their uniform policies unisex if a student wants to present as the opposite sex.

It also addresses the issue of sports — emphasizing that as kids get older, schools must segregate the sexes with “no exception” in competition when “physical differences between the sexes threatens the safety of children” especially with boys who are going through or have gone through puberty. Even when safety isn’t an issue, schools are to “ensure that sports are fair” by “offering equal opportunities to boys and girls” by segregating by sex.

“Schools and colleges that do not provide separate sports for girls are unlikely to be offering them equal opportunities to boys, and for some sports they will be putting girls at undue risk of injury if they have to play on mixed teams,” it states acknowledging that there are physical differences with boys and girls.

This is vastly different from the way that the Biden administration, many blue states, and American influencers such as University of California San Francisco child psychiatrist Jack Turban, who are skeptical that “social contagion” is a valid explanation for sudden gender confusion among adolescents.

It looks like the United Kingdom is leading the way back to sanity on the gender issue.

It took Kiera Bell’s lawsuit and the Cass Review, but it’s happening. What will it take for North America to return to sanity? How many more children will be harmed before the tide turns?