UK teachers vow to support trans students in defiance of new guidance

Author: Molly Sprayregen

Teachers are fighting back in the wake of new draft guidance recently released by England’s Department for Education (DfE) that says they can freely misgender trans students and are required to out them to their parents.

Tennant also posted her own message of support when the guidelines were released. She posted on X, “These are the death throes. Hang in there please. Most people are kind and inclusive and progressive. These people want you to believe that’s not the case but do not believe them. Carry on with your heads high and your hearts open; they’ll be gone soon.”

According to the guidance, schools do not have a “general duty to allow a child to ‘social transition,’” and, in the case of primary school-aged children (under 11), schools are banned from using pronouns that do not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth.

School officials must inform parents if students request to change their pronouns or name or ask to wear school uniforms that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth, except in “very rare situations where informing parents might raise a significant risk of harm to the child.”

Schools and colleges are also instructed to consider the impact of respecting a trans or nonbinary student’s gender identity on other students and “may conclude that the impact on the school and college community is such that it may not be possible to agree to support a request.” The guidance also states that “no teacher or pupil should be compelled to use [a trans or nonbinary student’s] preferred pronouns.”

Mermaids, an organization that advocates for transgender youth, called the guidance “unworkable, out of touch and absurd.”

“Rather than listening to trans young people and reflecting best practice of inclusive educators across the U.K., the government has created more confusion for schools and is putting young people at risk,” the organization said in a statement.

Actual Story on LGBTQ Nation
Author: Molly Sprayregen