Teachers ordered not to tell parents if kids have "changed gender" at school

Teachers at a Scottish secondary school are being told ordered not to tell parents about their child's new "gender identity" if the child does not want them to, a shocking report by a Sunday paper reveals.

The Sunday Mail highlights one school in West Dunbartonshire where staff received a circular from the head teacher warning them not to divulge info to parents, including in cases involving 12-year-olds.

Teachers at the school also revealed that a growing number of pupils are assuming new identities, with staff and pupils ordered to use new names and pronouns without question.

One said: “There are some classes with several children as young as 12 who have said they want to be known by a new name and pronouns. It is an issue affecting an increasingly large number of young people.

“An email was sent out before parents’ night making clear the information was not to be given to the guardians of at least one S1 pupil as they didn’t want them to know.

"These are 12-year-olds, not even teenagers, some of whom can be struggling in a variety of ways. Many staff are concerned that this is not the correct course of action.”

Another teacher said: “We are in a very strange position where a 16-year-old child in S5 who wants to change their Higher subjects can’t do so without parental consent but a 12-year-old...can change their gender".

The news comes just over one year after controversial Scottish Government guidance for primary and secondary schools was issued by Ministers, to a deluge of criticism.

The guidance, which is strongly contested by various groups, instructs teachers to unquestioningly affirm children in the opposite gender, and keep it from parents if asked.

Scottish Ministers are currently under fire for contentious gender recognition proposals that would allow people aged 16 and above to change legal sex after a 3 month period.

The proposals seek to remove current requirements for obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate including a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and living as the opposite sex for two years.

CARE is concerns that the Scottish Government's proposals will erode women's rights and harm children. Speaking last month Michael Veitch, Scottish Parliamentary Officer, said:

“We do not accept the narrative of proponents that this Bill is essentially a tidying-up exercise aimed at reducing the bureaucracy of acquiring a Gender Recognition Certificate.

"On the contrary, by removing medical requirements, and reducing the statutory time limit to a nominal three-month period, the Bill introduces a de-facto system of ‘self-identification’.

“If passed, the Bill would send a very clear message to children and young people that their biological sex is not a fixed reality but entirely a matter of personal choice.

"‘Self-identification’ could encourage them to make potentially life-altering changes to their bodies. We also have concerns about the bill’s impact on sex-based rights and conventions, and freedom of expression.”