Thread by @ellenfromnowon

Anti-trans group "Transgender Trend" have released a "Schools Resource Pack" which is a toolkit that will empower the neglect of trans young people, dressed up as a scientific, well-spoken document.

I'll be going through it and breaking it down on Twitter later.

To dispel the obvious: yes, I've read it. Yes, I understand everything in it. Yes I'm actually an expert in this. Yes, I've a duty to act in the best interests of children. Yes, I'm trans. No, that doesn't create a conflict of interest.

This stuff would be laughable if it wasn't so dangerous. It looks good to otherwise inexperienced teachers, and *will* be used to ignore the needs of trans and questioning young people.

I've debated these people on the radio before a couple of times (begrudgingly) and they are easily challenged. However, the danger here is when this is presented as Gospel Truth in the absence of other resources for teachers.

OK, let's get stuck into this. I'm going to start at the beginning and work my way through. These are my personal opinions, but are informed by 5 years of constant work in this exact field.

The language style is interesting throughout. It actually doesn't mention "trans children" and "trans young people" at all, and only talks about "trans-identified". This is to imply these children & young people (CYP) are just assuming they're trans, but are mistaken.

The resource (pg 4) says it was developed "in partnership with teachers and child welfare staff", but there are no actual experts quoted in the document, and there are a notable zero supporting organisations. Even years ago in Northern Ireland we got other orgs to support!

"Advice given by transgender organisations is focused upon the transgender individual and may not look at the holistic duty of the school community as a whole."

When you're supporting vulnerable CYP, they're supposed to be the focus of quality of life improvement. Ugh! Basic.

This document seems to take the approach that young people are saying they're trans for the craic, and not/rarely coming out at a point of crisis, are struggling or are deeply upset by their current situation.

Page 5 is a delightfully badly-designed set of misquoted research statistics, and a focus on scaremongering about the "young girls" (sic) that transition, and that Autistic folks are more commonly trans than the general population.

"‘Rapid onset gender dysphoria’ is thought to be linked to internet use and social contagion"

"ROGD" is a nonsense term that this general group of people have invented, and has no clinical support, and no support from anyone doing actual support for trans folks.

I'm probably not going to comment on "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria" again, but it generally means "Someone comes out as a young person without having shown signs before" and it's common and good and not something to pathologise you absolute tubes

[I can't copy/paste this stuff as it's so badly laid out]

"Patients at gender clinics are 6x more likely to [be autistic] than the general population"

This is actually something to worry about - are Autistic trans folks getting support? Not in this scaremongery way though!

We're 5 pages in and already the ableism is showing. The theme of Autistic young people not knowing their own selves is very common throughout this and is horrible.

"Schools should not feel pressurised into accepting interventions from political
activist groups seeking to pursue their own agenda."

I agree. This is why trans orgs doing training (at least in Ireland & NI) talk about how to support young people, not abt political aims.

Now here's a good laugh.

"Any statistics used must be fully evidenced from national peer-reviewed research"

Most of the references in this document are garbage pseudoscience and those that aren't have been misused.

"Schools should be cautious of giving a transgender child rights that are not afforded to other children. For example, the right to wear trousers for only girls who identify as boys"

This is... deliberately twisting. Trans boys usually want to have *equal* access to trousers.

"School rules should adopt a consistent approach to interests and personal
style (clothing, hairstyles, footwear) without having special rules for a
transgender child"

Bollocks. There's always flexibility for different access needs, including disability, cultural differences etc

It's so obvious that these people haven't actually done this sort of support work in schools. These things are *so basic*.

"There is evidence of ‘social contagion’ with transgender children and the school must be wary of fostering this."

Actually what there's evidence of is people *who were already trans* coming out as such in school when they see another being accepted. Different.

"With young children it is a challenging task for a school to explain a biologically
impossible situation (e.g. that a child has changed sex and is now a boy rather than a girl) to young children."

Again, have you even met young people? They're astoundingly accepting when young.

In fact, young children accept and genuinely understand "[name] is now a boy!" much better than "[name] is a girl dressing as a boy". Being upfront with kids in this way is a really child-friendly and age-appropriate thing to do actually.

"Parents of young children may be at the forefront of a child’s ‘decision’ to become transgender."

Actually, this is pretty damn rare and is usually very obvious as it induces gender dysphoria in children who are otherwise not trans.

"This is a very new phenomenon. Schools need to be aware that there is no
long-term evidence base to support the ‘transition’ of children, including social
transition."

Hmm, nope. Kids have been transitioning for many years, and it's the numbers that are changing.

"There is now roughly an equal number of referrals of primary age boys and girls to
gender clinics, although historically boys vastly outnumbered girls. This suggests
that parents are beginning to see their little girls as ‘trans’ rather than ‘tomboys.’"

Again, this... no.

This is so fundamentally not true that it's difficult to even put words together to challenge it. Tomboys still exist in wonderfully high numbers! Brilliant! Just that *some* of those previously seen as such have better options for themselves nowadays. Some are trans.

"Transgender, gay, lesbian, [Autistic] or troubled teenager?"

Why not all five? But seriously, most (60%-80%) trans young people are also LGB, and ~30% are Autistic, so this isn't as ridiculous a suggestion as you may first expect.

"Teachers should also be aware of the risk of ‘social contagion’ from celebrity trans internet vloggers who glamorise medical transition.
Teenage girls are the biggest users of social media platforms online."

Seeing yourself represented in media: Literally The Worst

"The majority of teenage girls identifying as ‘trans’ are lesbians. Children and
adolescents of both sexes on the autism spectrum also tend towards gender
non‑conformity and are over‑represented at gender clinics. >>>

>>> These children are being
encouraged to interpret their non‑conformity as a sign that they are transgender."

Ah, bullshit. Nope. This is just not true. There's so much in this one paragraph that's just fundamentally Not A Thing that I'm again struggling to word it.

[abuse]

"Children who have troubled backgrounds, have suffered previous trauma or sexual
abuse, have underlying mental health issues or are bullied and don’t ‘fit in’ are also
vulnerable to interpreting these problems as due to ‘gender dysphoria.’"

Also wrong & unsupported.

"If schools can widen the space in which young people feel comfortable in their
non‑conformity, and all gender expressions are accepted then it may become clear
that transition is not the only answer for all."

This is actually true. Doesn't stop the trans kids bein trans tho!!!!

"Staff must always consult with senior leadership and seek advice if they are worried
about a child’s underlying motives for seeking irreversible medical treatments."

Use of child here is extremely Twisting Reality. No child can access irreversible transition care in the UK.

Young people aged 16+ can access semi-reversible treatment, and currently only adults can access things like surgery.

But this is deliberately vague with that. It's clever, but it's subtle scaremongering.

"Sex: Male/Female XY or XX chromosomes, biological sex and reproductive organs which cannot be changed"

I see someone has a GCSE Biology textbook. This is just embarrassing tbh.

"Offer a unisex school uniform of trousers or shorts for all or a choice of trousers
or skirts for both girls and boys. Lift any hair-length restrictions which are
for only boys. Explicitly apply jewellery, hair and make-up allowances &
restrictions to girls and boys equally"

Great! Basically lifted out of every single decent trans schools guidance resource ever. We want kids to have freedom, not rail them down some 1950s stereotype route, you *absolute* tubes.

"Recognise homophobic and lesbophobic bullying as abuse based on sex, not
gender"

this is rewording "we're homosexuals not homogenderals" what's even the point

"Teach ‘consent’ and the right to set personal boundaries as an important principle for everyone"

Again, good advice. However, when I'm agreeing with stuff in this document, it's also stuff we advise schools on and have been doing for years!

OK, page 16 starts the case study section, with 4 people's testimony of how they thought they were trans and it turned out they weren't.

If they're true, these people obviously need, deserve and should be offered support. However, this *doesn't in any way* delegitimise trans ppl

The thing is, there's always gonna be people who transition for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time, in the wrong way. Most regret is due to social exclusion though, not because people aren't trans. However, here's an important point:

There'll always be people who aren't trans who mistakenly transition. That's a risk in any system where trans people are allowed to transition. Numbers of trans people are increasing year on year so OF COURSE the numbers of people regretting might rise.

However, there is very limited data on regret, mostly because it's so hard to find people who mistakenly transitioned even though they were cis.

There is BUCKETLOADS of data saying supporting trans people to transition is the best way, when they want to, to improve MH & QoL.

Now a statement from the Lesbian Rights Alliance.

"Tomboys not allowed - the erasure of young lesbians in schools"

*takes a long, slow intake of breath and sighs*

"Many of these young girls defined as lesbians when they reached adolescence.
This is no longer allowed. Transgender training given to schools is telling teachers
that these girls are experiencing ‘gender confusion’ and should be assisted or
supported to self‑identify as boys."

What Planet Are These People On

Seriously, I've never seen ANY training or advice that's anywhere near this. Just because some "tomboys" turn out to be trans boys doesn't mean tomboys are being wiped out ffs

"Adolescent young lesbians in schools who do not want to conform to feminine
stereotypes (sometimes also labelled as ‘butch’) are being bullied, stigmatised,
isolated and..."

yes OK, I agree completely! and...?

"pressurised to socially transition, since being a trans boy is now
regarded as a more positive and fashionable identity."

AH ye fucked it up.

Seriously, since when has being trans in school been cool and not dangerous?

*scratches head*

"Although teaching programmes now exist which challenge homophobic bullying in
secondary schools, none of these materials represent young lesbians who reject
femininity."

Have you been to Northern Ireland? Regularly delivered by & represent butch lesbian staff & volunteers.

OK I'm halfway through this document roughly, but I am *so exhausted* already because this is so emotionally draining. I'm gonna make another cup of tea and see if I can continue with this tonight.

How are we doing tonight, folks? <3