Photo via @LBC/Twitter
October 18, 2021, 11:38 am
A British Christian couple is moving forward with a lawsuit against their local government after a child was allowed to dress the way they wanted, in pants or a dress, and this somehow allegedly confused their own kids “to the point of being unwell and stressed.” They ended up pulling their children out of public school in order to homeschool, but they’re still suing because that gets them a lot more attention and money than simply explaining to a kid that some people who were labeled as one gender don’t feel like that gender fits them.
Featured Video
Hide
In various interviews with media, supported by right-wing organizations like the Christian Legal Centre, Nigel and Sally Rowe repeat all the classic conservative lines on what they refer to as “transgenderism,” each of them being either entirely incorrect or a massive mischaracterization of the issue.
Advertisement
Hide
In an interview with Leading Britain’s Conversation, Sally made the false claim that most professionals who work with children who are trans or are experiencing some form of gender dysphoria think the idea is put into their heads by adults and that this leads right to puberty blockers. She claims they have a whole bunch of evidence of this which, following the example of many of those on the far right, seems not to have materialized in any physical form.
Actual published studies you can find with a simple search have found that it’s actually the refusal to affirm a child’s gender when it deviates from the one assigned at birth that leads to serious psychological harm and a sharp spike in that child’s risk of self-harm and suicide. It’s hard to imagine that any parents, currently living in a massively transphobic world, would try to influence their kids to be transgender, if such a thing is even possible.
Nigel and Sally’s problem, as well as that of most other transphobes, is that they’re taking gender far too seriously, implying that it’s something as permanent as a tattoo (though those can be removed) or something that affects the entire nation, like voting.
“Six-year-old children are not able or even allowed to make decisions on voting or having a tattoo, for example – it is therefore immoral to think that they can make such life-changing decisions at such a young age,” said Sally.
Advertisement
Hide
Another fundamental and likely willful misunderstanding being demonstrated by the Rowes here is that giving puberty blockers to young trans kids is literally for the purpose of delaying puberty in order to allow them to wait until their older to make a decision about their gender. Nobody is giving six-year-olds puberty blockers, but this medication is routinely given to puberty-age children for various medical reasons and is considered to be very safe.
The Rowes are specifically targeting the Cornwall Schools Transgender Guidance, according to Pink News, which specifically aims to curtail the real harm done to trans kids via bullying and harassment, whether from classmates or adults like Nigel and Sally.
“This guidance informs schools and colleges so that they can support, inform, protect and enable pupils and students questioning their gender identity to achieve their full potential whilst in education,” the introduction reads. “It aims to be nondiscriminatory in every aspect as issues with gender identity are seen across all other protected characteristics and everyone is entitled to have support.”
A massive anti-trans hate campaign has taken root in Britain, led by women calling themselves feminists who are now teaming up with the same people who like to tell them to shut up and get back in the kitchen in order to turn that hatred upon another marginalized group vulnerable to bigoted violence. A recent report found that over that same period, hate crimes against trans people in the U.K. quadrupled while homophobic hate crimes tripled, almost as though it’s all the same recycled reactionary bigotry over and over.
The hate crimes that are reported, furthermore, may only scratch the surface.
“What we do know for sure, from the UK government’s own figures, is that 90 percent of hate crimes against LGBT+ people go unreported, so these figures only represent a tiny part of the overall amount of abuse and violence faced by the LGBT+ community in the UK today,” said Galop chief executive Leni Morris.
*First Published: October 18, 2021, 11:38 am
0 Comments