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Showing posts from May, 2022

The Times- Teachers should not pander to trans pupils, says Suella Braverman Attorney-general calls for firm line on gender as she says JK Rowling is her “heroine”

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Teachers should not pander to trans pupils, says Suella Braverman Attorney-general calls for firm line on gender as she says JK Rowling is her “heroine” Suella Braverman, the attorney-general, has forthright views on the transgender debate TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLE Steven Swinford , Political Editor Friday May 27 2022, 10.30pm, The Times Schools do not have to accommodate children who want to change gender, the attorney-general said. Suella Braverman said that schools are under no legal obligation to address children by a new pronoun or allow them to wear the school uniform of a different gender. She reiterated that girls’ lavatories and changing rooms have special legal protections as safe spaces. In an interview with  The Times , Braverman said teachers need to take a “much firmer line” and suggests that some schools were encouraging gender dysphoria by an “unquestioning approach”. She described JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author who has campaigned to protect female-only spac

The Times- Gender referrals for children three times higher in Blackpool

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UK NEWS Gender referrals for children three times higher in Blackpool Children in some parts of England are up three times more likely to be referred for potentially life-altering gender hormone treatment, research has found, amid concerns of a postcode lottery surrounding the procedure. A survey of health authorities across the country found huge disparities in the number of children being referred by the NHS for gender dysphoria. It comes amid growing concern at the number of potentially vulnerable children wrongly being given gender hormone treatment and how health service staff deal with under-18s who question their gender identity. The survey found that on average clinical commissioning groups refer 32 children per 100,000 for treatment, a more than 15-fold rise since 2010. But in some parts of the country referral rates were up to three times  higher than the national average — a figure that could not be accounted for by statistical chance. Blackpool, for example, had a referral

The Times - Criminals will exploit loopholes in the SNP’s planned reforms to gender laws as an “invisibility cloak” to hide past offending, campaigners have claimed.

  Tuesday May 17 2022 Criminals will exploit loopholes in the SNP’s planned reforms to gender laws as an “invisibility cloak” to hide past offending, campaigners have claimed. Ministers plan to scrap the need to provide a medical diagnosis or a doctor’s approval note to apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC), as they argue the present system is too time-consuming and causes distress. The policy group Sex Matters said that an unintended consequence of the proposed revisions were clauses that shielded criminals — such as those who have a record of money laundering or child abuse — as the legislation protects a person’s previous identity. Maya Forstater, the group’s executive director, told The Daily Telegraph it would risk offering an opportunity to people “who want to conveniently sever the link between themselves and their past”. Easy access to the certificate could create “an extraordinary state-sponsored invisibility cloak, comparable to going into witness protection”. The

The Telegraph - Rape victim sues crisis centre after transgender woman allowed to join ‘female-only’ therapy group

Rape victim sues crisis centre after transgender woman allowed to join ‘female-only’ therapy group The Survivors’ Network, which has received over £100,000 in government funding, says services are available to any ’self-identifying woman’ By Blathnaid Corless “A government-funded rape crisis centre is being sued by a sexual assault survivor for allowing a transgender woman to access its female-only support group. The rape victim, who has been granted court anonymity but goes by the name Sarah, sought counselling from the Survivors’ Network in Brighton last year after she was sexually abused as a child and later raped in her twenties.  Sarah joined the organisation’s female-only peer support group in 2021, and said she initially felt “relieved” to be able to share her story among women with similar experiences. But in September last year, she claims to have left one of her sessions feeling “shaken and upset” after noticing “someone who appeared to be a man” attending the therapy group.