Govt: Stonewall does not decide the laws of this country

Schools are suffering from an ‘epidemic’ of children being told, they are transgender, the equalities minister has said.

Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, Ms Badenoch also said the prominent LGBT lobby group, Stonewall, ‘does not decide the law in this country.’

The purpose for the statement to the Commons was that the UK Government has updated the list of countries from which gender-certificates will be accepted.

This list was last updated in 2011 and since then, a number of countries have adopted new approaches to granting gender recognition certificates.

During the debate on the minister’s statement, MPs raised wider concerns about transgender issues, including the lack of guidance for schools over how to respond to pupils who want to gender transition.

Ms Badenoch said that a school allowing a child to social transition is ‘not a neutral act’.

She went on to say ‘we are seeing, I would say, almost an epidemic of young gay children being told that they are trans and being put on a medical pathway for irreversible decisions and they are regretting it.”

Children at primary school should be banned from socially transitioning ‘except in the most extreme safeguarding cases and I expect that to include clinical advice.’

Government trans guidance was originally promised in the summer, but it has been delayed numerous times. The guidance is now expected to be published in January.

Part of the reason for the repeated delays is that some MPs are pushing for a full, no loop-hole ban on pupils transitioning at primary school.

However, the Government has reportedly been warned that such a ban would breach the Equalities Act.

On the subject of Equalities, former prime minister Liz Truss has introduced a private members bill which would ban trans women from entering single-sex spaces and prevent children from changing their gender.

Ms Truss came 18^th in the private members’ ballot which means her bill is likely to receive a second reading debate next year.

Private member bill do not normally become law. Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle came 5^th in the list and his Conversion Practices (Prohibition) Bill aims to ban conversion therapy.