Schools in England and Wales using ‘gender toolkit’ risk being sued by parents
Schools in England and Wales using ‘gender toolkit’ risk being sued by parents
Leading barrister warns that the kit – used to support gender-questioning children – is likely to be in breach of equality laws and could violate pupils’ rights
Leading barrister warns that the kit – used to support gender-questioning children – is likely to be in breach of equality laws and could violate pupils’ rights
Archived version: https://archive.ph/jT7GK
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The new legal analysis by Monaghan was commissioned by a family in Brighton who are arguing that their child’s school helped their child to socially transition without their consent, because it was using the toolkit. The family wrote to the council on Friday threatening possible legal action if it does not withdraw the guidance within two weeks.
The child’s mother, who asked not to be named in order to protect the identity of her child, told the Observer: “Our child was socially transitioned at school by a group of teachers who are quite active in the trans rights arena, despite our child’s complex mental health needs, trauma and autism.”
She said she and her husband “thought we had agreed a unique plan with the head” that the school should support only what she called a “pre-transition phase” until the child left secondary school. Instead, she said, they had been “shocked” to discover the school had supported their child socially transitioning. The family is now estranged from their child.
Seriously? You're so disgusted by your child identifying as something other than their assigned gender at birth (often shortened to AGAB) that you've lost the ability to love and give them affection? The alternative is that you've been so shitty to your child as a result of their desire to be different from their AGAB that you've driven them away and they're no longer able to show you love and affection. Either way, you're the asshole here.
Edit: For Americans, because I had to look this up: secondary school is similar to middle/high school (in the US, middle school is generally 11~13yrs old, high school is typically 14~18). So they're basically saying that their kid isn't allowed to social transition until they're an adult and the parents can no longer legally control what their child does with their life.
Edit 2: decided to change the wording to try and be a bit more accommodating. Originally I had used phrases like, "their birth gender" and "birth sex" because I didn't want to confuse people who weren't aware of the nuance or terminology associated with "assigned gender at birth", and because personally, phrasing things that way doesn't really bother me and so I struggle to see the point. Still, I'm changing it because I want to make sure I don't unintentionally cause someone dysphoria.
You're reading a lot between the lines there. I would be concerned if I had a child with special needs whom I had discussed a plan with the school but they had just done something else anyway. Are you saying parents shouldn't be involved with discussions about their childs care? We can't know all the details here and jumping to conclusions about the parents motivation seems premature here.
re you saying parents shouldn't be involved with discussions about their childs care?
I'm not op but absolutely yeah if the kid doesn't involve their parents it's for a good reason. They're not reading very much between the lines, when kids are "estranged" from their parents it's always the parents' fault - and even if this particular case was the 0.0001% of times where it wasn't, that wouldn't impact what was the right thing for teachers etc to do.
You might think differently if the estrangement had been driven by the teachers. The article isn't clear on the timeline. I guess it's for the courts to rule on now.
I think it's pretty ridiculous to think that that is remotely likely. Teachers can't just convince a kid to cut off their parents when there aren't already extremely serious issues in the home, it's not realistic.
You're right of course they're have never been any cases of teachers taking advantage of their position of trust over vulnerable pupils. It's always a failing of the parents. /s
Don't conflate being a supportive and trusted adult as a child navigates their identity with sexual abuse you piece of shit.
Ok, show me an example of teachers convincing kids to abandon their family then, since you seen to think there are so many
I mean just googling "teachers who have eloped with students UK" will give you a depressingly long list of examples.
It is your job to support your claims not everyone else's.
Fine:
https://metro.co.uk/2023/11/26/teacher-eloped-15-year-old-now-working-baker-19881223/amp/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/re-teacher-49-marries-ex-24590117.amp
From the search page. But for a wider view of the times teachers have exerted undue influence over children in their care: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/16/teachers-accused-relationship-pupils-five-years mentions 1000 teachers have been accused of undue influence over a five year period.
I'm not saying the teachers in this case had any undue intentions (the court will be in a far better place to assess the facts than random internet commentators). However it should be clear that teachers can influence children to do something against the wishes of their parents, unless you posit in all these cases it was still somehow the parents fault.
other than what they were born as
assigned at birth; let's not acquiesce some doctor with a crank habit on 2 hours sleep is correct in what they say on government paperwork off a 2 second glance at baby genitals.
Either way, you’re the asshole here.
Big yeah.
In this house we treat medical professionals with respect
In this house we treat medical professionals with respect
In this house we hate cops and a person who participates in condemning someone to a [assigned] "sex at birth" prison is a cop.
I mean, I can change it if it really bothers you that much. I just didn't want to potentially confuse people by using terms they might not be familiar with. Ironically it seems I might have done that anyway.
To be clear, I'm trans-femme enby, though I'm not exactly in a place right now to be able to medically or socially transition irl. Despite that, people saying "assigned at birth" or "birth sex" or whatever doesn't really bother me. To me it's just different ways of saying "this is who they were thought to be until they discovered their true selves".
I mean, I can change it if it really bothers you that much.
"I hate cops" wasn't a reply to you, friend. Nor about you. I was calling doctors cops and doing so in response to someone saying "respect doctors" as if that forgives their participation in systems of oppression. To be clear I respect doctors in so far as they treat gunshot wounds, hate them in so far as they snitch on the fact to the feds.
I thought about explaining the reasoning for the distinction I insisted on making (it was for others' benefit) but I didn't want to reply to you again 'cause I feared coming off as a dick.
i do not know how to explain to you that the concept of an assigned sex at birth is not a system of oppression
i do not know how to explain
Yeah, I have trouble explaining falsehoods, too.
Me? I tend to avoid the difficulty by not spreading lies, but you do whatever works for you, darlin'.
the M or F on one's birth certificate is not an immutable doctrine, it's a jumping off point. it's a starting place so you can see if you like one side before switching to the other. more importantly, it's a starting point that works for 99% of the population, and the remaining 1% are hindered by it less and less as social progress is made. once we as a society reach the point where there is exactly zero stigma attached to deciding you like the other side, or the middle, or some other fantastical place better than the side your penis, vagina, or lack thereof put you on, thus rendering that decision by your dad's sperm cell irrelevant to anything besides how you are referred to the first handful of years of your life until you're old enough to understand the difference and make your own decision, then I don't see the point in going further than that.
you might as well call giving an infant a name a system of oppression, since trans/enby people invariably change theirs.
also, whether you believe doctors are cops or not, you do not get to call people meth heads based on the fact that you don't like them.
Why are we forcing people into "sides" if we know for a fact they can be erroneous?
That creates a privileged class for who their assignment is congruent with their conception of self (cisgender people)
alongside a disprivileged out group forced to navigate transitioning out of an assignment they never should have gotten (transgender people)you might as well call giving an infant a name a system of oppression
I do.
Eh, I figured you probably weren't talking about me, but I wanted to make sure. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't made you upset, so no worries. I decided to change it anyway.
I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t made you upset
We are and have been good. I do want to stress however that not having transitioned by circumstance or choice does not mean you own anyone deference during intracommunal discussions.
I'm aware, just wanting to be considerate, that's all.
I worded it that way because not everyone knows what AGAB, AMAB, and AFAB mean. I agree with your sentiment though.