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Christian Concern has spoken against suggestions by Education Minister Bridget Phillipson that boys be allowed to wear dresses at school.
According to government guidance issued last month, schools should not adopt social transition steps without proper procedures, including consulting parents and considering clinical advice where appropriate.
In primary schools social transitioning should be undertaken only in extremely rare circumstances. The guidance, which is still under consultation, was welcomed for ensuring that single-sex facilities like toilets and changing rooms are indeed single sex. However, the fact that transitioning is still permitted under the guidance was condemned by various Christian and pro-family groups.
Speaking to LBC, Labour’s Minister for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, Bridget Phillipson, addressed the issue further saying that in her opinion “boys should be able to wear dresses at primary school if they want to.”
Responding to her comments, Christian Concern said, “Schools should not be lying to and encouraging primary aged children into trying to change their gender.
“We are all created either male or female, in God’s image.”
It is asking Christians to pray “that school children in this country would understand what it means to be made in God’s image, and that they would not be taught that boys can become girls and girls can become boys”.
The handling of trans-identifying students by schools has been a controversial area for a number of years now.
In 2022 the British government settled with Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowe who initiated legal action against trans-affirming policies from the Department for Education.
Their case was supported by the Christian Legal Centre and began in 2017 when the Rowes took issue with their sons’ Church of England primary school allowing transgender pupils to attend as their chosen gender.
In the 2022 settlement, the Rowes were awarded £22,000 in costs and the Department for Education pledged to reform official guidance for schools on transgender issues.
