Transitioning students will face new roadblocks in UK schools under the dictates of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
On Sunday, video surfaced of Sunak publicly making derogatory jokes about men who support trans women, saying that doing so makes them unfit to lead the country.
It puts a dark light on the draft guidance that was recently leaked, guidance coming directly from Sunak’s government and regarding how schools will be required to treat trans students.
Teachers will be required, by law, to out students they know or believe to be transgender to their parents, even if the student says it will make them unsafe at home. Transgender youth in conservative households make up a disproportionate percentage of teenagers physically harmed, made homeless, or killed by their own family.
Teachers will not be allowed to use a child’s preferred pronouns without explicit consent from the parents. Even with parental consent, teachers and other students will not be required to use a child’s preferred pronouns or name. Misgendering and misnaming transitioning students is bullying, plain and simple, but it will be protected or even required behavior under these new laws.
Any child who has requested a change of pronouns will be completely banned from any competitive sport, regardless of which team they’re willing to play for.
Schools are meant to be a place of safety for all of their students. We count on teachers to help raise our children to be confident in themselves and of their place in the world. As importantly, we count on teachers to be watchmen, to keep their eyes out for students who are facing abuse or other challenges at home. These new laws will inevitably make teachers the indirect cause of that abuse, and then tie their hands to do anything about it.
These laws, in short, are so far in opposition to the goal of protecting children that one could say they are intended to harm them, even kill them.
