‘Cult-like meeting’ pressured teachers to ignore trans guidance for schools

Trans activists have come under fire for reportedly pushing teachers to follow the Stonewall “playbook”, instead of Government guidance on how schools should help gender-questioning children.

During an event co-hosted by the Trans & Non-Binary Education Network and Schools Out groups, teachers were told there would be “a lot of reasons not to follow” the Department for Education’s (DfE) guidance even after it is finalised following public consultation.

The draft guidelines explain: if a child wants to socially transition, schools should give “great weight” to parents’ views; schools must not allow pupils who say they are trans to use toilets and changing rooms of the opposite sex; teachers should use sex-based pronouns; and teachers and pupils should not be compelled to use a gender-confused child’s preferred pronouns.

Parents

One former primary school headteacher claimed the guidance was “transphobic” and promoted “abuse”, and teachers were told the scandal-hit group Mermaids offers “a great service” and directed towards its resources as well as Stonewall.

Our draft guidance reflects the law, which schools have a duty to follow. DfE

Speaking to the Daily Mail, trainee psychotherapist James Esses reported: “What was meant to be a network of educational professionals began to sound more like a cult meeting. I dread to think how many teachers were present at this webinar. How many of these events are being run up and down the country every single day?”

“I think parents have to take a proactive role in this. They should be asking the school whether they will be following the Government guidance. They should be asking what material they will be using. That’s the only way parents can police what their children are being exposed to.”

In response, a DfE spokesperson stated: “We expect schools and colleges to follow our final published guidance to make sure that they are acting in the best interests of their pupils. Our draft guidance reflects the law, which schools have a duty to follow.”

‘Indoctrination’

On the same day the guidance was published, former maths teacher Kevin Lister was barred from working with children after he refused to use a gender-confused pupil’s ‘preferred name and pronouns’ without parental consent.

Writing in The Daily Mail, he said: “My real crime was that I had questioned a dangerous gender ideology that has infiltrated our education system and countless other institutions, threatening to undermine the very foundations of objective truth by telling children they can change their biological sex.”

“Our next generation of young teachers, too, have been indoctrinated and, as we have seen, will try to plough on with their toxic agenda. That is why ‘guidance’ on its own will not be strong enough to hold back the tide of gender dogma. We need legally binding rules to banish this extremist ideology from the classroom once and for all.”