Transgender

Pressure grows for immediate trans guidance in schools

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Pressure is growing on the UK Government over fresh delays to the publication of new transgender guidance for schools across England.

The Children's Commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza said the guidance, which the prime minister Rishi Sunak promised earlier in the summer, needed to be produced as soon as possible.

She told PA Media:

They’re all talking to me about the need for this clarity, so I think we need to see it as soon as possible. There are 23,000 schools [in England]. We can’t have everyone doing different things – it’s got to be fair for all children.
Rachel de Souza

The guidance would be non-statutory advice has been bogged down in delays, amidst reports of legal wranglings over how it would sit under the Equality Act.

The BBC recently reported parents expressing frustrations over the lack of guidance and headteachers have also said the ongoing delay is making things harder.

A spokesperson for No 10 Downing Street said the Government was taking time to try and understand the long-term implications of a child acting as though they are the opposite sex.

The Labour Party recently reversed its policy on gender self-ID and says it now opposes introducing a model which allows people to legally change gender without a medical diagnosis.

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