UK minors as young as four may be allowed to change gender without parental consent

A rally of transgender people. Photo: dailymail.co

A scandal has erupted in Great Britain over recommendations published by the Labour government for schools on working with children "questioning their gender identity." The document opened the door for primary school children as young as four to 'socially transition' in 'rare' circumstances without parental consent, writes the Daily Mail.

This refers to changing names and forms of address without medical intervention. According to these recommendations, teachers and students will be able to call children by different pronouns that do not correspond to their sex but reflect their "gender identity".

Former head of Ofsted Baroness Amanda Spielman said the new trans guidance gives "too much leeway" for schools "to permit a child to transition while keeping it secret from their parents". According to her, the clauses relating to parental consent are too vague, after it said there would be "rare circumstances where involving parents or carers would constitute a greater risk to the child than not involving them". She expressed concern that children might be encouraged to claim an "unsafe" environment at home to bypass parental disagreement.

Conservative MP Claire Coutinho also hit out at the new rules, saying primary school children are "too young to make these decisions" and that the Conservative draft of the document had said transitioning should not be permitted until they are older.

"We have made it very clear that different pronouns should not be used for primary school children," she said.

School principal Katherine Birbalsingh called the new recommendations "disgraceful" and an abuse of state power.

According to the published clarifications from the Department of Education, schools are required to record the child's biological sex in documents, maintain separate toilets and changing rooms, and consult with parents unless there are serious grounds to consider this a threat to the pupil. The document has been put forward for ten weeks of public discussion.

As the UOJ wrote, in England nurses succeeded in preventing transgender people from entering their changing rooms.

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