The U.K. government of Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce new policies to prevent schools from secretly abetting students’ gender “transitions” and teaching inappropriate sex lessons.
“In a move which will be seen as the PM taking on militant trans campaigners, teachers will be forced to tell parents their child is questioning their gender — even if the child objects,” the Sun reported Sunday.
The paper went on to detail the gender policies:
Under the new plans, [school] heads in England will be told that parents must always be consulted if a child wants to be called another name, or wear a different gender uniform.
And the school will not be able to use the child’s new preferred pronouns until parents give consent.
Teachers will be ordered not to recognize a transition within the school gates if the parents do not agree with it.
And neither students nor teachers will have to call another pupil by their preferred pronouns if they do not want to.
Even if parents do give the move the green light, heads must also consider the mental effects on other children before approving the gender change, following a long period of consideration.
In addition, a student who wishes to be treated as some gender other than his biological sex will be prohibited from participating in school sports.
“Parents have got to be kept in the know about their child while they are at school and be consulted when sensitive matters arise,” a government source told the Sun.
“If their child expresses a desire to transition, for example, it’s vitally important that parents are made aware and have a say.”
“It is in everyone’s best interest to ensure this happens, so that the child is looked after, teachers are clear in how they must handle the situation and parents know so that they can handle it appropriately and sensitively.”
A March school survey by the London-based conservative think tank Policy Exchange revealed that “only 28 per cent of secondary schools are reliably informing parents as soon as a child discloses feelings of gender distress”; four in ten let students determine their own gender; 69 percent require other students “to affirm a gender-distressed child’s new identity”; significant percentages do not maintain single-sex bathrooms, locker rooms, or sports; and 72 percent “are teaching that people have a gender identity that may be different from their biological sex.”
While these policies primarily harm students, teachers have also been victims of gender ideology. The Sun described two such cases: (1) a teacher who “claimed he was treated like a pedophile after … pupils with gender dysphoria complained about a lesson he gave on puberty” in which he stated facts about males’ and females’ differing muscle development; and (2) a teacher who “claimed she was sacked for refusing to use an eight-year-old’s preferred pronouns.”
Unlike teachers’ unions in the United States, which are fully on board the Woke Express, at least one U.K. education union actually welcomed the new policies. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told Sky News the guidance 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.”
In an interview with the Sun, Sunak, a father of two, said, “The wellbeing and safety of children is my top priority. We have to recognize that any degree of social transition could have potentially quite a significant impact and consequences for a child. So, it is vital the right safeguards are in place.”
Besides radical gender ideology, Sunak is also taking on schools that expose children to inappropriate sexual material behind their parents’ backs. According to the Sun, “‘disturbing’ content was revealed to have been taught to young children. Reports showed kids as young as ten were being taught about pornography.” Moreover, “MPs have sounded the alarm about how parents are being kept in the dark about ‘graphic lessons on oral sex, how to choke your partner safely and 72 genders.’”
“A parent should be able to know what their children are being exposed to, and it’s important that material is also age-appropriate,” said Sunak.
To that end, wrote the Sun, “a new independent expert review will recommend specific age ratings on content,” and “only high quality teaching materials from approved providers will be allowed to be used.” Furthermore, “Sensitive topics, such as gender, will not be presented as facts to children, with discussion encouraged.” That, of course, is anathema to the Left, which seeks to stifle all debate about its pronouncements.
Clearly, Sunak is not concerned about offending the LGBT crowd. Indeed, he has gone out of his way to differentiate himself from them, repeatedly asserting, quite accurately, that women cannot have penises, while the leaders of the Labor and Liberal Democrat parties both insist that they can and, in some cases, do. He also recently joked to fellow Conservatives that, while he is a proponent of students studying mathematics at every grade level, “it turns out that we need to focus on biology.”
Sunak’s new policies are “expected to come this week,” stated the Sun, “but will undergo a lengthy period of consultation before coming into effect by the end of this year.”
