Being trans is no more a ‘contested theory’ than a gay family is a 'pretend' relationship – Vic Valentine

Planned changes to gender identity guidance for schools in England sound like the controversial Section 28 ban on teaching ‘the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’

The UK Government is consulting on new relationships, sex and health education guidance for schools in England. Scotland consulted on their draft guidance about similar issues last year, and we hope to see the result published soon.

Polling just last week found that 60 per cent of people in Britain support pupils being taught about gender identity in an age-appropriate way. Yet, in England, there are proposals that pupils should not be taught the “contested theory of gender identity”, and that instead pupils should only be taught “the facts” around the protected characteristic of gender reassignment in the 2010 Equality Act: that it’s unlawful to discriminate against trans people in the workplace, and in the provision of goods, facilities and services. So what exactly are those facts?

The Equality Act says that someone has that protected characteristic if they are “proposing to undergo, undergoing or have undergone a process (or part of a process) for reassigning their sex. This includes changing physiological or other attributes of sex.” This means that those of us who take a range of steps – like changing our names, updating our ID (for example, passports or driving licences), and for some, accessing medical treatments to make our bodies feel more like home – should not face discrimination.

Section 28 was repealed in 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales after widespread protests (Picture: Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

If those are the facts, then what is this “highly contested” theory of gender identity that shouldn’t be taught? There aren’t many clues in the consultation. It defines gender identity as “a sense a person may have of their own gender, whether male, female or a number of other categories". But how could you possibly explain the definition of “gender reassignment” in the law to school pupils, without explaining why anybody might undergo this kind of process?

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Teachers would have to be able to say something like: “Some people are trans. Unlike most people – who are born either male or female, and who feel at ease with themselves as boys/men or girls/women, respectively – their relationship to their sense of self, and their body, is a little more complicated.”

Explaining the law without talking about gender identity just makes no sense. So, what is the point of this approach? It feels very much like an attempt to signal that being trans is somehow just a “contested subject”, not a fact of life.

LGBT+ rights are under threat as politicians across Europe increasingly use discriminatory language – Vic Valentine

This feels familiar. Section 28 (introduced in 1988, repealed in 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales) banned teaching around “the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. If these changes happen down south, I’m sure it won’t be long until people feel as uncomfortable with the state suggesting trans people are a “contested theory”, as most now do about this having been the approach to the relationships of gay, lesbian, and bi people in the past.

Who trans people are, who I am, is just that. It is no more a “highly contested and complex subject” than the relationships of gay, lesbian, and bi people were ever “pretended”. These proposals send a harmful message to trans young people, or young people with a trans sibling, parent, or friend. The message being that their lives, families, and relationships are not seen as equal. That is not a message that any government should choose to send.

Vic Valentine is manager of Scottish Trans