I am scrapping trans guidance to Northern Ireland schools, says the education minister Paul Givan
The Education Authority (EA) should immediately withdraw its current transgender guidance to schools, Stormont’s education minister dramatically says today.
Paul Givan, writing in today's News Letter, says he has asked the EA to review its policy in light of the UK Supreme Court trans ruling in April. (click here to read his essay)
Mr Givan says that his education department has tried to “ensure fairness, safety and respect for all children in schools” by affirming that “references to ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ are to be understood as biological males and females”.
He writes: “Pupils should use changing rooms and toilet facilities designated for their biological sex and that boys and girls should not share these spaces when in use. In competitive sports, mixed-sex participation is only permitted where governing bodies [explicitly allow it].”
The EA 2019 guidance had said that "staff should give a transgender pupil access to toilets which match their gender identity”.
Mr Givan describes as “unfortunate” the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland bid to seek High Court clarity on how the Supreme Court ruling interacts with the Windsor Framework’s Article 2. He adds, pointedly: “I am not willing to delegate this crucial issue of decision making to an organisation which has been far from neutral on many sensitive issues”.
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