Civitas: One in ten teenage pupils want to ‘change gender’

One in ten teenagers aged 16 to 18 want to ‘change their gender’ or have already done so, a top think-tank has revealed.

A report from Civitas, based on research conducted by Deltapoll, analysed responses from over 1,000 16 to 18-year-olds and parents of 12 to 16-year-olds about the teaching of LGBT ideology in schools across England.

It found that two thirds of the teenagers (67 per cent) had been told that biological sex is “assigned at birth”, while one in three (32 per cent) were informed that a “woman can have a penis”.

Fear

Although 80 per cent of teenage respondents said their school “positively encourages different viewpoints when discussing contentious social issues (on gender, sexuality, and sex)”, more than a third (35 per cent) admitted: “I don’t feel comfortable contributing my opinion in case it leads to me being judged or bullied by other students”.

Nearly six in ten parents (59 per cent) opposed schools “telling pupils that a man could get pregnant”, with only 17 per cent in favour.

On Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), 77 per cent said parents should have the “unrestricted legal right to see all” materials and lessons plans, with only 14 per cent against. A further 64 per cent supported the right of withdrawal.

‘Worrying’

The report’s author, Jo-Anne Nadler, warned: “Parents need to be vigilant about exactly what is being taught to children and by whom”.

She stated: “Teaching children how to think is being replaced with an activist-led vision designed to teach children what to think”, but “an education system that fails to enable and encourage the diversity and inclusion of different viewpoints isn’t really an education system at all”.

Miriam Cates MP called the report “worrying reading for any parent”, saying: “No child is or can be ‘born in the wrong body’ so when one in ten teenagers says that they have or want to ‘change gender’ we know that something is going very wrong. This is a huge social experiment going on behind closed doors.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education responded: “The education secretary has brought forward an urgent review of the curriculum”, and promised that upcoming guidance would “clarify schools’ legal position and the importance of involving parents when making any decisions relating to their child”.

Inappropriate materials

Earlier this month, the Prime Minister warned that the country “can’t lose sight” of ensuring that “what our children are exposed to at schools is appropriate for them”, such as in sex education lessons.

Rishi Sunak stated: “I’m a parent, and I think most parents would care about that. They’d want to know what their kids were being taught, what materials they were being exposed to.’

Mr Sunak previously stated that transgender guidance would be available for the summer term.