A gender critical activist has hailed Labour’s new trans guidance issued to schools, pinpointing a crucial safeguarding detail on GB News.
Under Bridget Phillipson’s guidance, which women’s rights campaigners have sought for years, students will be allowed to change their gender at school.
The framework has advised teachers to approach requests to transition with “caution” and has added they must consult parents.
However, while it is being reported that the guidance says teachers must ultimately accept a child’s request, Executive Director of campaign body Sex Matters Maya Forstater fact-checked the claim.
“It doesn’t actually say that,” she told the channel. “We think this guidance is quite a big step forward.
“What it says is that schools and teachers should listen to children. But they should do what’s in the child’s best interest and that often that is not what the child requests.
“So, although there are issues with the guidance, we think it’s a big step forward.”
The guidance states no child would be allowed to use opposite sex toilets, changing rooms or dormitories, nor should they play sport with the opposite sex.
A gender critical activist has hailed Labour’s new trans guidance issued to schools
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“So a lot of the things that a child might want to do in terms of social transition are just read, lined out, and then it says that the school should have a policy and should treat the child with care and and consideration also for other safeguarding concerns.
“It’s good that it’s part of the statutory safeguarding framework so that it’s treating these children like every other child, not as a special case.”
Baroness Cass has backed the new framework, whose landmark review in 2024 warned against rushing children who believe they are transgender into treatment, which they could come to regret.
Dr Cass recommended that families should be able to access medical professionals swiftly when a primary school child wishes to socially transition.
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Womens’ rights campaigners Helen Joyce and Maya Forstater celebrated April’s judgement outside the court
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She concluded under-25s should receive “unhurried, holistic, therapeutic support”, with “life-changing” decisions properly considered in adulthood.
Ms Phillipson vowed the measures were “not a political football” – nor were they negotiable.
She said: “Parents send their children to school and college trusting that they’ll be protected. Teachers work tirelessly to keep them safe. That’s not negotiable, and it’s not a political football.
“That’s why we’re following the evidence, including Dr Hilary Cass’s expert review, to give teachers the clarity they need to ensure the safeguarding and wellbeing of gender-questioning children and young people.
“This is about pragmatic support for teachers, reassurance for parents, and above all, the safety and well-being of children and young people.”
Labour has fallen under intense scrutiny since the Supreme Court ruled the term “women” refers to biological sex, rather than gender identity back in April, leading to mass disgruntlement across Britain within the pro-trans community.
But the Government has dwindled on publishing official guidance on the landmark decision, leaving women’s rights campaigners up in arms over what this means for the safety of Britain’s women and girls.
While the guidance for schools has been given a fair hearing by gender critics, the NHS has been slammed after the government-funded body urged its staff to learn their patients’ pronouns before proceeding with a conversation.
Fellow gender critic Helen Joyce from Sex Matters previously told GB News the move “doesn’t make sense”, forcing staff to use “unnatural language”.