We welcome the news that Liz Truss is not changing the Gender Recognition Act to a process that relies on Self ID.
Self ID is an assault on safeguarding. We are delighted to have a minister who is prepared to stand up for the safety, dignity and privacy of women and girls and would like to thank her for listening to the concerns of so many of us. The impact on women and children was not considered when the original GRA was implemented and our understanding of safeguarding has vastly improved since then.
However welcome this news is, we believe there is still much work to do on improving child safeguarding. We are particularly concerned with the influence lobby groups and organisations purporting to offer RSE and PSHE education have in our schools. Many of them are endorsed or receive funding from both the Government Equalities Office and the Department of Education, and yet are misrepresenting both the Gender Recognition Act and the Equality Act and overriding established safeguarding protocols. We call upon Liz Truss to raise this as a matter of urgency with the Secretary of State for Education.
As we see a huge rise in the number of children being referred to gender identity services we would like to ensure children are able to access timely and good quality mental health support. It is also important that schools prioritise challenging gender stereotypes which alienate so many children, and address sexism and homophobia which cause great harm. We are of the firm belief that parents and carers must work together with teachers and unions to challenge policies that have misrepresented the law and endangered children.
You can read Liz Truss’s statement here