Right-wing Tory MPs lobbied for ‘blanket ban’ on children being able to identify as transgender in schools
Tory MPs tried to pressure the Government into banning children from being able to identify as transgender in schools, senior Government sources told i.
Right-wing Tory MPs Miriam Cates and Nick Fletcher were among a handful of MPs to have lobbied ministers to introduce a âblanket banâ on children being able to identify as the opposite gender to that assigned at birth, the sources said.
The Department for Education (DfE) is due to publish draft guidance next week advising schools on how to approach issues around gender identity, after teaching leaders accused the Government of leaving them âin the crossfireâ.
ââIt will say that children can âsocially transitionâ as long as they have parental consent, meaning transgender pupils will be able to wear different uniforms and select their chosen names.
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch told BBC Oneâs Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that the Governmentâs guidance will ensure âeveryone is getting the balance rightâ, adding: âI canât go into the specifics of what is going to be in the guidance but what your viewers can be reassured of is weâre doing everything we can to bring clarity.â
But Ms Cates and Mr Fletcher are understood to be preparing to mount a backlash when the guidance is published amid frustrations that it will legitimise what they call the âgender ideologyâ movement in schools.
i has been told the pair, who are both deeply religious, pushed for children to be banned from socially transitioning altogether during roundtable discussions with Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, and other DfE officials.
Ms Cates and Mr Fletcher are understood to have warned officials it was âwrongâ to allow pupils to choose their own gender, and that doing so might spread âharmful gender ideologyâ that would confuse other children.
The Tory MPs were informed that a ban on allowing pupils to identify as transgender may be illegal, since it would violate the Equality Act 2010 which âprohibits discrimination against transgender children in all schoolsâ.
One senior official who was part of the discussions said: âLast time this happened was in the 1940s in Germany.â
Ms Cates told i: âI donât think guidance for schools should say that girls should be allowed to identify as boys and boys should be allowed to identify as girls, I think itâs a safeguarding risk.
âI also think that schools have a duty to be politically impartial and not to indoctrinate. They should not be accepting gender ideology at face value rather than as a theory to be critiqued.â
The Tory MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge said she would âvery much welcomeâ any decision to ensure sports and toilets remain single-sex, which she claimed was the âright decision for safeguardingâ.
âBut I will not be happy if the guidance says that children can change gender, even it itâs with parental consent,â Ms Cates added. âI donât want to see schools socially transitioning children and Iâll absolutely speak out about it if thatâs what it says. Iâll absolutely take part in the consultation.â
Mr Fletcher told i: âThe truth is that we canât change sex. Itâs wrong for adults to collude in misleading any child in any way at all that they can, including the use of new pronouns.
âSupport for gender-confused children must be anchored in reality. And the rights of all the other children in the school need to be considered. How is it possible for a school to engage in social transition of a child without confusing the other children, and without undermining science, safeguarding, and freedom of conscience?
âFinally, children shouldnât be encouraged to think of themselves according to sex-based stereotypes â yet unfortunately these lie at the heart of gender ideology â one of the many reasons it is so harmful, especially for young children still discovering themselves.â
The row has resulted in bitter Tory infighting that has stalled the publication of the trans guidance, initially earmarked to be released in April.
i understands that the Government has been receiving legal advice over the past few weeks over how likely the guidance is to withstand challenge.
Schools have long called for the DfE to publish guidance to help provide a framework for issues around gender identity, with Geoff Barton, head of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), saying earlier this year that it would provide teachers with concrete advice on a complex issue.
âThis is clearly needed so that schools are able to draw on an established set of guidelines rather than constantly being caught in the crossfire between opposing views and beliefs,â he said.
Rishi Sunak approved the move in March after expressing his âconcernâ over findings of a report by right-wing think tank Policy Exchange. The report, which Ms Cates has referenced during a House of Commons debate, said only 28 per cent of secondary schools surveyed were reliably informing parents as soon as a child questioned their gender.
i understands the draft guidance will prohibit transgender pupils from joining competitive sports teams of their birth sex, while schools will be required to ban same-sex toilets except where âobjectively justifiableâ.
It will also allow pupils to change their gender pronouns, but will require teachers to inform parents if their children are questioning their gender.
Charities have raised concerns that this effectively amounts to âoutingâ children that could lead to dangerous situations among some families.
Leni Morris, chief executive of LGBT+ anti-abuse charity Galop, told i: âWe are very concerned about the potential for this guidance to include measures that may put some trans and non-binary young people in danger.
âWe know from research, and from the young trans victims of abuse that we work with every day, that trans people are more likely to experience abuse at home, most often at the hands of their parents. For many of these young people, school is a space where they can seek help, away from what is happening to them at home.â
Ms Keegan is understood to have been firm that the trans guidance is vital to ensure childrenâs safeguarding in schools, and that parents must be involved in such discussions.
The DfE will launch a public consultation on the draft proposals, which is expected to be open for around three months. Teachers, parents, charities and medical bodies will be invited to share their thoughts on the guidelines, and the DfE told i it will conduct a âqualitative analysisâ on the responses to ensure the consultation is not flooded by campaign groups.
It comes amid growing concerns among some education organisations that the trans community is being used as a political football in schools.
Ofsted launched a snap inspection into Rye College in East Sussex last month after a complaint over the schoolâs handling of gender ideology by Ms Badenoch.
Video footage shared online showed pupils at the school arguing with a teacher over gender and identity, with one pupil appearing to claim that a student identified as a cat.
However, Ofsted gave the school a clean bill of health, saying in a report published earlier this week that the saga did ânot reflect pupilsâ normal experiences at schoolâ.
Mr Barton, the head of ASCL, said it showed that the incident had been âblown out of all proportionâ by âpolitical noiseâ.
âThere was a huge amount of political and media noise around the incident which led to this inspection and which we can now see very clearly from the findings of this report was blown out of all proportion,â he said.
âThe most ridiculous aspect of that media and political noise was the suggestion that children were identifying as animals in schools on a widespread basis â something we have never heard of and never had reported to us by any school or college leader.
âWe would urge politicians in particular to establish the facts before leaping on stories in the media and remember that there are real people â students, staff, and parents â who are deeply affected by suddenly finding themselves in the eye of a manufactured storm.â