UK teachers vow to support trans students in defiance of new guidance

Teachers are fighting back in the wake of new draft guidance recently released by England’s Department for Education (DfE) that says they can freely misgender trans students and are required to out them to their parents.

Upon the release of the guidance – which must still undergo a 12-week public consultation before it is finalized – actress and trans ally Georgia Tennant posted screenshots from the flood of messages teachers have sent her promising they will continue affirming their trans students.

Related:

Bullied trans teen blasts UK’s “inexcusable” new guidance on how schools should treat trans kids

Newton Carey was bullied so badly that he dropped out of school. He says new guidance requiring teachers to out trans students would be disastrous.

“I will always address a pupil under their chosen pronoun and put their well-being first!” one teacher wrote.

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Another declared they will “respect the students and centre the child,” adding, “I will fight for the equity of our non binary and trans students as I do with any who are part of the LGBTQ+ family.”

One teacher did not hold back her opinion about the government: “We’ll use whatever pronouns the kid wants us to. The Tories can shove it.”

Another opened up about the emotions the guidelines are bringing up: “It’s so vile I’m crying… any teacher who’d go along with this and disrespect a student so crassly, isn’t fit to be a teacher, either. It makes me so mad, that it enables exactly those colleagues again, that have never had the slightest bit of empathy or respect towards their students to begin with… I’ll always stand up for trans rights and make sure my students know they have a safe space where they’re always welcome.”

Tennant also posted her own message of support when the guidelines were released. She posted on X, “These are the death throes. Hang in there please. Most people are kind and inclusive and progressive. These people want you to believe that’s not the case but do not believe them. Carry on with your heads high and your hearts open; they’ll be gone soon.”

According to the guidance, schools do not have a “general duty to allow a child to ‘social transition,’” and, in the case of primary school-aged children (under 11), schools are banned from using pronouns that do not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth.

School officials must inform parents if students request to change their pronouns or name or ask to wear school uniforms that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth, except in “very rare situations where informing parents might raise a significant risk of harm to the child.”

Schools and colleges are also instructed to consider the impact of respecting a trans or nonbinary student’s gender identity on other students and “may conclude that the impact on the school and college community is such that it may not be possible to agree to support a request.” The guidance also states that “no teacher or pupil should be compelled to use [a trans or nonbinary student’s] preferred pronouns.”

Mermaids, an organization that advocates for transgender youth, called the guidance “unworkable, out of touch and absurd.”

“Rather than listening to trans young people and reflecting best practice of inclusive educators across the U.K., the government has created more confusion for schools and is putting young people at risk,” the organization said in a statement.