Campaign group calls for UK-wide parity when it comes to 'protecting' children in Northern Ireland and Great Britain from 'gender ideology'

The guidance – which is now out to consultation – also says that pupils should not get access to changing rooms and toilets that are reserved for the opposite gender; that no pupils or teachers can be compelled to accept somebody's self-declared new gender identity; and that school sports must be kept "safe" and "fair" in the face of calls to accept male pupils who say they are female onto girls' teams.

The new draft guidance for England differs radically from that in Northern Ireland.

The NI guidance (published by the Education Authority) in effect tells teachers to accept a pupil's declaration of being transgender; says that this information should be kept from parents without the child's explicit consent; and says that – generally speaking – biologically-male pupils who describe themselves as female should be permitted to use girls' changing rooms, toilets, and uniform (and vice-versa).

Whilst the NI guidance states as fact that there is such a thing as "transgender children", the English guidance refers instead to "gender-questioning children".

• ‘A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION’ •

Transgender Trend is headed up by Stephanie Davies-Arai. She formerly ran courses on how to communicate with children, and as an activist she was part of a campaign to get The Sun newspaper to drop its Page 3 models.

She founded Transgender Trend in 2015, and in the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours was awarded a British Empire Medal "for services to children".

Her group describes itself as "an organisation of parents, professionals and academics based in the UK who are concerned about the current trend to diagnose children as transgender", adding that it is "mostly left-leaning and liberal, but we don’t see this as a party political issue".

In a statement to the News Letter, Transgender Trend said that the new English guidance "is a step in the right direction," because it "takes non-scientific gender identity ideology out of schools and out of the hands of lobby groups like Stonewall by using clear language based on reality".

It goes on to add: "But children with gender-related distress in Northern Ireland do not have these protections.

"The 2021 Education Authority guidance remains steeped in the beliefs of transgender lobby groups.

"This guidance starts by describing children who question their gender as ‘transgender'.

"This is a diagnosis that is beyond professional competence of teachers to make, giving them an identity label rather than viewing them as troubled children.

"The data we have from the Cass Review Interim Report spells out what is known about children with gender-related distress; they are likely to be autistic, to have other mental health conditions, to have suffered sexual or other traumas, to be in care. But the NI guidance ignores all this evidence and, in advance, diagnoses them as ‘transgender.’

"The guidance directs teachers and pupils to trans activist organisations for further information. It says one outcome for a ‘transgender’ child is to be prescribed puberty blockers despite the National Institute for Clinical Excellence saying evidence for their safety and efficacy is poor.

"Children in Northern Ireland are the same as children in the rest of the UK and deserve the same protections from ill-advised and unevidenced policies, written largely at the behest of trans lobby groups."

• ‘PUPILS SHOULD BE SUPPORTED TO BE AUTHENTIC SELVES’ •

Meanwhile, Mermaids (one of the premier transgender campaign groups in the UK) takes a contrary view of the guidance.

"All young people deserve an accepting and supportive school environment to learn and be their authentic selves," it said of the guidance.

"The UK government’s draft trans guidance for schools in England seeks to prevent that. Its approach is unworkable, out of touch and absurd.

"Rather than listening to trans young people and reflecting best practice of inclusive educators across the UK, the government has created more confusion for schools and is putting young people at risk.

"It is difficult to understand how aspects of this draft guidance, including automatically excluding trans pupils from facilities, sport bans or allowing students to be misgendered, are compatible with existing equalities law.

"The overwhelming majority of teachers and parents believe trans pupils should be safe at school and will disregard these discriminatory guidelines, which will be non-compulsory."

The new draft guidance for English schools reflects a massive sea change in government attitudes to children who claim to be transgender; until very recently the state, under Tory control, had largely embraced the demands of transgender activists.

For example, whilst nobody can legally change gender until they are at least 18, former would-be PM Penny Mordaunt had consulted on lowering this and on letting people swap gender without any medical or psychiatric oversight.