Alongside a raft of other discriminatory measures, this presents the Tories’ most significant attack on the rights of trans young people yet
The government is announcing new guidelines which will force schools to out trans pupils to their parents. Under the new measures, children will be banned from socially transitioning at school (for example, changing their name or pronouns) if their parents disapprove. If a child begins questioning their gender at school, teachers will be obligated to report this to their guardians, regardless of the child’s wishes (this comes the day after footage emerged which appeared to show Rishi Sunak mocking trans women).
Even if parents do approve, this offers no guarantee that schools will support trans pupils: as reported in The Sun yesterday, the guidelines require head teachers to consider “the mental effects” on other pupils before they grant permission. In either case, teachers and pupils alike will have no obligation to respect a child’s new pronouns or name: effectively, this is a stamp of approval for some of the most common forms of transphobic bullying (which is already rife in British schools), such as deadnaming and misgendering.
The obligation to tell parents, in particular, presents a severe safeguarding risk. If a child isn’t out at home, it’s likely they will have a good reason for this. Familiar transphobia is a widespread problem. A survey from charity Galop earlier this year found that young LGBTQ+ people are facing a “hidden epidemic” of abuse by family members, specifically as a result of their gender and sexual identities. This takes the form of physical violence, verbal harassment, controlling behaviour, threats of homelessness and those threats being carried out.
In relation to these new measures, what’s particularly troubling is that the risks are higher for trans and non-binary people. One-third of respondents experienced familial abuse, but for trans and nonbinary people this shot up to 43 per cent.
Conversation therapy – a controversial practice which seeks to “cure” people of their gender or sexual identity, which has been likened to abuse in its own right – is also a greater risk for trans and nonbinary people: 11 per cent reported having experienced it, compared to five per cent of respondents as a whole.
Young LGBTQ+ people in general are disproportionately vulnerable to homelessness and, once again, the risks are higher for trans people, almost 25 per cent of whom have experienced it at some point in their lives. Family rejection, abuse and being asked to leave home are the leading causes of LGBTQ+ homelessness. If these policies are introduced, it seems inevitable that young people will be put at risk of physical and psychological harm.
“Anti-trans parents want to control their children’s lives well into adulthood. This guidance is a dangerous step towards enshrining that in law” – Sasha Baker
“The parents lobbying for this guidance present significant dangers to their children if it were implemented,” Sasha Baker, an investigative journalist and expert on trans politics in Britain, tells Dazed. “I have spent months monitoring what anti-trans parents say behind closed doors and how they operate politically. Removing children from mainstream education, refusing them access to mental healthcare and cutting off or severely restricting internet access are already considered acceptable responses to a child coming out as trans.”
While this news will be hailed as a victory by the anti-trans movement, who have been lobbying for it for some time, Baker suggests that they won’t stop here. “They will no doubt welcome this guidance, which will give them resources to more quickly and effectively isolate their trans children, but it will not be enough for them. For many anti-trans parents, their child turning 18 makes the job of repressing their trans identity harder, but no less imperative. Parents have been known to pressure universities to disregard GDPR [general data protection regulation] and write letters to their adult children’s doctors in attempts to deny them trans healthcare,” they say. “Anti-trans parents want to control their children’s lives well into adulthood. This guidance is a dangerous step towards enshrining that in law.”
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