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A culture of silence? Dangerous trans guidance will embolden transphobic attitudes

Legislation and guidance Government policy Pastoral issues Pupil wellbeing Mental health Anti-Bullying Safeguarding
The proposed guidance on gender questioning children will lead to a culture of silence and fear reminiscent of Section 28, says one secondary school teacher who fears for the future of her trans students
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Little over a year ago, we received the horrifying news that Brianna Ghey had been murdered by her peers.

My heart stopped and my thoughts immediately turned to the handful of trans young people who attend the lunchtime Pride Club that I am proud to run for my school’s LGBT+ community.

I found myself desperately wishing that half-term could be over; I wanted to make sure that they knew we would never let anything like this happen to them.

When we returned one of them ran over, in tears, to tell me that a group of students from our school had thrown stones at him and subjected him to transphobic abuse while he was walking his dog over the break.

My heart stopped again – could I really make that promise? This was not the first time this child had been subjected to serious physical abuse by his peers for the simple fact that he is trans.

At schools across the country, reports of physical violence against trans and non-binary students are becoming frighteningly more frequent, and more extreme (see Stonewall, 2023).

Since 2017, the UK government and media have whipped up a moral panic over the joyful existence of trans people. Hatred of trans people has become a routine part of political discourse in this country.

The violence of the language used by politicians and media figures to incite hatred against trans and non-binary people incites the violence that the young trans and non-binary people I teach face on a daily basis – from their peers as well as from the adults charged with keeping them safe.

No-one who has worked to support trans youth in the face of this unrelenting hostility was surprised when the Department for Education unveiled proposals for new legislation on trans children in schools (DfE, 2023).

The new rules are based upon the absurd idea that the mere presence and recognition of trans young people in the classroom could somehow be harmful to young people. A consultation over the plans comes to an end on March 12.

I fear that the proposed guidance will allow adults in schools to ignore trans young people’s social needs. They could see trans young people prevented from wearing different uniform, intentionally misgendered and deadnamed (schools may refuse to recognise a child’s chosen name), and forcibly outed to peers and parents.

The guidance also says that trans young people must not be allowed access to toilets and changing rooms of the other sex.

There is no doubt in my mind that this guidance will embolden transphobic attitudes, make education workers fearful of meaningfully tackling transphobic bullying, and make trans youth even less likely to come to school.

Instead of serious engagement with the issues raised by trans children, the national conversation consists of endless soundbites about pronoun use and participation in sports.

These debates purposely obscure the most immediate and material issues that we know trans children are facing – discrimination, violence and bullying in (and out of) schools (Stonewall, 2017), long delays in accessing gender identity services as well as soaring rates of mental illness, self-harm, and suicide (Henderson et al, 2022).

In my role, I have witnessed the wide range of responses that trans and non-binary students get when they come out at home. Some families are immediately supportive and ask for resources so they can learn more.

Some worry about their child not being accepted by their peers. Some take a little while to get used to new pronouns.

Others refuse to accept their child’s gender identity altogether. Some parents physically assault their children. Others threaten their children with homelessness and burn clothing.

The truth is that school staff have no way of knowing which of these responses a child will be faced with when their parents find out that they are trans.

It is trans young people themselves who know when, if ever, is the right time to come out to their parents, families, and communities. Many have pointed out that the guidance has terrifying echoes of the infamous Section 28 legislation, which banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

From 1988 to 2003, teachers weren’t allowed to talk about same-sex relationships in the classroom. As a result, rampant anti-LGBT+ sentiment went almost entirely unchallenged in classrooms, with devastating consequences for generations of LGBT+ people (Lee, 2023).

Like Section 28, the new guidance institutionalises a general culture of silence, ignorance, and fear. It threatens to make life more difficult for any gender-non-conforming young person, regardless of whether they identify as LGBT+ or not.

The goal of this guidance is to strengthen and reinforce traditional gender roles in line with Conservative Party ideologies. Anyone who actively wishes to reinforce gender roles and shore up discrimination against LGBT+ people will gain a powerful tool to endorse sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.

As a secondary school English teacher, I believe the draft guidance is most dangerous in its lack of clarity – its complete refusal to engage with the humanity, agency or even existence of young trans people.

The guidance deliberately does not use the word “transgender” to describe children, arguing that “under UK law children cannot obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate and therefore cannot change their legal sex”.

Deliberate vagueness like this was the reason that homophobic bullying and ignorance prospered under Section 28: the limitations of the law were purposely made incomprehensible, and teachers were afraid to overstep.

The new guidance risks putting us in the same position, making even sympathetic teachers afraid to acknowledge queer and trans lives in their teaching.

The aim is to make gender affirmation for young trans people an impossibility: to make them disappear from view.

What Section 28 didn’t do, however, was stop any LGBT+ children from actually being LGBT+. It didn’t stop LGBT+ teachers from creating safe, inclusive classrooms.

Similarly, this new guidance will not stop any trans children from being trans. I have no doubt that if these proposals are approved, thousands of young LGBT+ people will do what young people have done best for decades: refuse to comply.

Whether by coming out publicly, persevering through social transition, or creating their own spaces to affirm and celebrate their identities, they will form their own communities of resistance, and they will find a way.

School staff do not need directives handed down by politicians. We need to be empowered to listen to the concerns and creativity of our own students and cooperatively develop spaces in which trans young people – and all young people – can safely be themselves, learn about who they are and feel happy.

There is still time for us to make our voices heard. If you are reading this article before the evening of Tuesday, March 12, you can still respond to the consultation and demand that the government rethinks. And of course, we will continue to make our views known even after the consultation closes.

If you can respond in time, then alongside a coalition of educators, charities and human rights groups, trans youth charity Mermaids has launched its #SupportiveSchools campaign to help you respond (see further information).

More widely, individuals and organisations can also sign up to a #SupportiveSchools statement and there is also a guide engaging with your local MP about the proposals.

It’s time to start listening to the voices of young trans people. They deserve so much better.

  • Neha is a teacher working in a secondary school in England. The author has not used their full name in order to protect the identity of their students.

 

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