Testimonials

My daughter came to me in the middle of the night one night a few months after starting secondary school. She couldn't sleep.

'Why?' I asked. 'Because I'm scared'. We cuddled up together and I asked her what she was scared of 'It's all this talk about gender stuff'. 'What exactly?'. In a very small voice 'It doesn't make any sense'.

A long talk later, she's terrified she'll be punished if she speaks up about believing in science and pointing out that the material taught in science directly contradicts the jumbled mish-mash of materials from RSE which sometimes say sex and gender are different, sometimes don't and generally make no sense (although at least I've been allowed to see them - I know some schools don't allow even that). Having just started her periods she was outraged that boys could identify as girls and be treated the same when their biological reality is very different.

We've agreed the best thing to do is to ignore it wherever possible and she's promised to come to me if she feels under any more threat or if she feels her boundaries / safety / privacy are being violated. It seems there are some teachers who are pushing the ideology harder than others. A teacher told her that JK Rowling was 'transphobic' with no evidence. A political opinion which is entirely out of place in school. She loves Harry Potter so was very upset at this slur against one of her favourite authors.

Our school PCSO did a presentation about ‘Hate’. It included hard-hitting images and descriptions of worrying situations, such as racial harassment. Next there was a pretty animation all about the “correct” language to use around transgender children who had changed sex. The class are nine and ten year olds. They have only just stopped believing in The Tooth Fairy! They took it all in as truth. Why wouldn’t they?  A policeman was presenting it!

I spoke to him afterwards about my concerns. He said that they had had complaints from other school parents. He said that he and his colleagues did not agree with it and he had had to confirm that The Head was ok with it. He pointed out that he had not commented on the cartoon with the children, but had simply moved on to the next topic. I felt angry. I wondered if The Head realised what was going to be presented? I felt that parents should have been consulted first.

By Year 9, nearly 50% of my child’s friends had identified as LGBTQIA+ in some way, for a period of time. There seemed to be a significant social media element to this because my child showed me messages that heaped praise or ‘Likes’ on anyone ‘coming out’ or changing their pronouns.

The school invited kids who identified this way to the Rainbow Club and in Yr8 the whole year was taught about Gender Identity, and how it is not the same as your sex, as if this was a proven, scientific fact.

I thought sending my daughter to a single sex, Catholic school would protect her from this ideology because they'd be committed to the reality and definition of sex. I was wrong. In less than half a term  - at aged 11 (Year 7) she was calling herself pansexual and questioning whether she was a girl.

We only discovered this because we go through her phone - and she was calling herself a boys' name at school. It transpired she'd been attending a lunch time club called Sexuality & Gender run by a sixth form girl who called herself a boy. When we questioned the school about the safeguarding and that our 11 year old daughter was now calling herself pansexual we were told a (male) member of staff was always present. My daughter denied this : school refuted.

This school has multiple girls identifying as boys - using boys' names and pronouns - and the word girl has been removed from the toilets and replaced by the word "student". All done without any consultation with parents - parents believing their girls are at a single sex school (which they obviously are) are being told they are in a class with boys.  The older girls are telling the younger girls via school assemblies and lunch time clubs what they should believe and "be".

My slightly tomboyish daughter was told she was demi boy & pansexual. She was also told in an assembly to accept whoever uses women's toilet - to not question if she thinks a man is in there with her - to trust they know best. When I raised this advice as a safeguarding  / legal concern with the school I was dismissed with a "we teach girls to be kind"  - complaints are futile because you are complaining to indoctrinated staff who have a very puddle deep understanding of these issues. They couldn't even explain how this advice didn't comply with current legislation in England.  I could go on... their PSHE provider ran a class "beyond biology"  - and had a "gendered soul" approach. It's devoid of fact and science.

I have some sympathy with schools - our government and the department of education have effectively handed this entire area of education over to lobby groups.

Since starting secondary school my daughter (now year 10) and all her friends are now all either gay, asexual, non-binary etc. Not a single one of my daughter's big group of friends is straight.

My daughter tells me how teachers tell them they are bi etc. She talks all the time about assemblies on LGBT etc. I honestly believe it's too much.

Yet there are children in the school, my son included who is in year 7 and suffers badly with anxiety gets no help. It's a struggle to get him to school each day. He is also now questioning if he would fit in more if he was gay. How is that acceptable?

The [provided to Free To Speak] lesson plan has already been delivered to S1 pupils.

Slides 1 and 2 give the impression that the lesson will be about differences in puberty between boys and girls; however, this is not the case - 10 out of the 13 slides (with a Pride flag as the background) cover ideas from gender ideology presented as fact. Slide 5 wrongly states that 'gender' is 'assigned at birth'; 'gender' is not 'assigned' at birth - 'sex' is observed and recorded at birth (or while the baby is in utero). Slides 6 and 7 introduce a confusing range of terms and uses 'gender' and 'sex' interchangeably. Slide 8 introduces the idea of a spectrum of sex by adding 'intersex' as a biological sex category, and presents the idea of 'gender' as a fact rather than an idea. The note to slide 8 ('the child is born with ambiguous genitalia') is factually incorrect: not all babies with differences of sexual differentiation have ambiguous genitalia. Slide 9 states that a 'transman' (i.e. a trans-identifying woman) is a man and that a 'transwoman' (i.e. a trans-identifying man) is a woman, and tells children that 'if you're not sure what gender someone identifies as, call them "they".' Slides 8 and 9 include graphics of pink and blue brains in male and female heads, respectively, which suggests to children that they might have been 'born in the wrong body'; no one is born in the wrong body - your body is you!

The school's staff and Gender Sexuality Alliance are working with LGBT Youth Scotland Schools Charter. LGBT Youth Scotland referred itself to the police last December over allegations of grooming.

Statement from LGBT Youth Scotland | LGBT Youth Scotland | LGBT Youth Scotland

[Slideshow provided to Free To Speak]

My son has said he feels very uncomfortable with the films he is being shown and the things they are teaching him at school. He said he feels traumatised by the film Heartstopper, shown to him [this month].

Child vulnerable due to previous trauma. Was given sexual education in school then same information given to her by 2 other organisations within the space of 2 weeks. Child said she was gay and started obsessing about sex, became sexualised, became predatory & began accusing other children.

Vulnerable child exposed to gender ideology in school aged 11. School changed child's first name without permission to his “pansexual” name. Even changed on my Parentpay & official correspondence. Teachers refer to him by this name. Boy now says he’s female. Official told me that [school name supplied] has the highest number of LGBTQ pupils out of all the schools in the area.

13 year olds were yesterday made to view Heartstopper, a gay film where one school boy is holding the hand of another without permission and without his knowledge as he is sleeping. They are also shown kissing.

In 2021, my year 7 child was exposed to an assembly where the teacher spoke about her 'queer' identity and said that companies should be donating more money to LGBT+ causes. It was a highly politicised personal speech, completely inappropriate for the audience.

The same teacher had written the school equality policy, which was full of conflation of sex and gender and other inaccuracies.

At the same school PSHE resources have incorrectly defined homosexuality as same-gender attracted and invited discussion about what 'gender' a person might be, whilst showing a picture of a female with short hair.

The school have been unable or unwilling to answer questions on safeguarding - for example the framework they use to work with pupils claiming a trans identity, and also regarding the 'Gender & Sexuality Alliance' club.

My experience has been that staff are under informed on the issues surrounding gender identity ideology and that activist teachers are not kept in check.

The school, which is girls only, is asking the girls to fundraise for this charity.  It advocates letting transwomen, i.e. biological males, access female spaces such as prisons, changing rooms, refuges.

There is a biological boy sharing single sex facilities with the girls in year 7.  The girls have not been officially told. The parents certainly haven’t.  This boy was socially transitioned after primary school and started year 7 as a girl.

I met with the Safeguarding Lead a year ago about the PSHE materials, transgender policy and inappropriate behaviour from their LGBTQ+ lead.  At that time I was told that the materials did not cover gender identity or use ‘the Genderbread man’ and my concerns about the policy were unfounded as it was not followed.  For example, the policy stated that if girls were unhappy about a boy sharing their facilities they would have to go elsewhere, not the boy - I was told the boy would be given a separate provision.  The safeguarding lead has now moved to another school in the MAT and I believe didn’t know the content of the policy and was unprepared for the meeting.

At the time I also raised my concerns about the LGBTQ+ lead (English teacher) as she was very overzealous in her teaching.  She frequently turned the subject to sexuality and highlighted any references she perceived in texts to LGBTQ+. She has been very forceful during ‘rainbow’ events and gets annoyed if students don’t want to participate e.g. face painting with rainbows.  She also uses her Twitter account to promote the events and encourage students to donate to Stonewall.  Since I complained the Twitter activity has decreased but the events continue.

My younger daughter started in year 7 in September so I contacted school again to make sure gender identity wasn’t being taught as fact in PSHE.  The new Safeguarding Lead sent me the materials and I discovered they do use the Genderbread Man and teach that ‘sex is on a spectrum’ and all about gender identity.  They allowed my daughter to miss this lesson but have not responded to my concerns that this is inappropriate for all pupils.

I have just looked at the policies again and the transgender policy has been removed.  There are no policies on the MAT website, however I am aware that this policy is still used at other schools within the trust so I am concerned this has been hidden from parents.

The PSHE Association provides the materials for lessons.  I don’t know anything about them but couldn’t see the Genderbread man on their website so school maybe used undisclosed sources as well.

They used to have a LGBTQ+ club which I assumed was a safe space for children to talk.  I’m told by other parents that their children were taught about different types of identity and there was not the opportunity to talk, however none of my children have attended. I don’t know if the club still runs.

I am aware of two children attending the school who have socially transitioned, one without the parents knowledge.  The safeguarding lead assured me this would never happen but is clearly not the case.

They had a Rainbow day in November but I was told this was focussed on anti bullying.  If that’s the case why the rainbow aspect? Bullying can be about anything not just LGBTQ+.

A Pride Festival is planned for June. I have no details yet but am concerned about the content.  The school seems to be heavily bias towards LGBTQ+ and there is no diversity.  I have raised this but not seen any change.  The only other event on the calendar is World Book Day.

I am very worried about the message my daughter is receiving at school and consider the teaching, reluctance to engage and deceitfulness around policies a major safeguarding issue.

Please excuse the purposely neutral pronouns, I’ve done this to help protect my anonymity.

This week a teacher has been presenting assemblies on Diversity and the Equality Act. There was a strong emphasis on Sexuality and Gender (not reassignment, just gender identity). The teacher illustrated Sexuality with an anecdote about their early career where their sexuality became a problem at interview. When discussing what should have been Gender Reassignment as a protected characteristic, only Gender Identity was mentioned. Sex though,  was skated over.

Previously this teacher organised a Diversity and Pride week, where there was much use of the “progress flag”, posters about important LGBT+ people were incorrect (eg James Barry as a trans man) and a heavy emphasis on gay and trans issues over some of the other characteristics.

At the end of Year 8 my daughter said they were questioning their gender. This was following her telling me there were other people in the school who were trans.

6 months later my daughter announced they were a boy and had changed her name. I was distraught. I went to school for support. I raised concerns that my child had anxiety, been bullied in the past. may be going along with peers, may be neurodivergent. School said they were experienced in these matters, all staff had training and were happy to go along with what my daughter wanted. So my daughter has socially transitioned.

Since reading about the Cass review, learning about social contagion and finding Bayswater Support Group I have regretted going along with the social transition.

The nightmare begins; we noticed a frightening change in how our son communicated with us. He was at Uni' so we'd have video chats with him. Suddenly it was very hard to get hold of him. When we did, he wouldn't put his camera on any more. We worried that he'd been attacked or something.

After some weeks or months he decided to tell us that he was trans. For us it was like going through the grief of his death. It was utterly agonising (and continues to be so). I can't describe how horrible it is to sit across the table from your partner & they're struggling to hold back the tears. I can't tell you how awful it having someone beg you not to commit suicide because if felt like you couldn't go on any more. I can't tell you how painful it was to realise the I couldn't cope at work any more. I had to quit my job. It's been years & I've not been able to work again.

So where did this bullet come from. It's been extremely hard to get any rational communication going. My son comes across as having been constantly coached online by his new trans "friends". They encourage distance from family & limited communication & spittle fuelled rants at anything that goes against the trans rhetoric. Just like a cult because it is a cult, the cult of dysphoria. But he did let us know how it started.

It started a school. School had an "anti-bullying" week during which staff had jackets on with slogans like "some people are trans, get over it". My son was bullied. He claims he wasn't but other kids agree that he was. He ended up in hospital due to injuries. Only a toxic culture could make someone think that such a thing doesn't constitute bullying. The implication seems to have been that, if you're being bullied, it's because you're trans. Exactly what the bullies wanted. I bet they're laughing with delight at their 100K victims (approx. number of trans people on .gov site).

The school didn't stop with that. They brought a herd of trans people into the school to talk to the kids. No balanced perspective. Just indoctrination to the trans rhetoric which the staff continued to repeat to the kids as if it was true, as if it was fact.

So this seed festered in the mind of my son through the remainder of school, 6th form and beyond. He was clearly a loner at Uni', rarely doing any normal sociable activities. Lockdown was probably a disaster for him. He joined the LBGT club (supported by NSU no doubt) and I suspect that was the beginning of the end for him to cling onto any rational view. He spent time reading up about trans (i.e. being indoctrinated further by pro-trans media / 'net groups etc.). Never any balance, we didn't know.

I hear that the no camera thing that I mentioned to begin with isn't new. It's a tactic to give weight to the dysphoria self "diagnosis". A method presumably picked up from online trans coaching, (clearly further brain washing).

It absolutely breaks our hearts to see him with make up & women's clothes on. He doesn't look like a woman at all. He just looks like yet another ridiculous gullible trans victim unaware of the train crash we're all heading for.

His next step, even if it results in estrangement (by his choice), is to get to a point where he can transition further. This is what your tax money goes on. Trans conversion therapy. It's like some sort of Third Reich eugenics movement and it needs to stop.

No sane parent ever brings children into the world wanting anything like this for them. We want our children back. The state has contributed to this problem. The state spent billions to stop extremists (like Isis). Now they need to stop this (trans) extremism and reverse the conversion therapy that they've exposed a whole generation to.

My daughter is struggling learning factual English in lessons with [an] English teacher and LGBT plus school club leader). The first lesson my daughter had with her in September, she spent half an hour asking the girls what pronouns they were ( most girls thought hilarious!), each book they read in class, she discusses if the characters are gay etc, even though many are old books and nothing to do with the subject of LGBT! She is very behind children transitioning at primary school age ( I’ve seen her likes on Twitter). I’ve complained many times that my daughter isn’t learning in her class (kept out the LGBT bit for now ). My daughter is thriving in all lessons, apart from hers! She’s also had many complaints of other Mums! Also another English teacher said she 'hated all white men’ in front of my daughter and other girls! My daughter came home very upset as she said the teacher was indirectly saying she hated her Dad and brother.

I hear the school has posters everywhere promoting LGBT but nothing about a nuclear family !

My daughter attended the junior school and it was a beautiful school then, very balanced. Before she went into senior school, I went to the parents evenings and the head teacher gave a wonderful speech on what the girls could achieve at the senior school, not once did she mention girls using pronouns, transitioning to boys etc. If she had I would not of chosen the school! My daughter is now about ready to sit exams so I can’t remove her, it’s too late for that!

The girls are being brain washed by radical teachers, it’s so sad to see !

My daughter, in year 7 went from saying she was a lesbian then she was a Demi-girl (still with she/ her pronouns) and finally to transgender boy. All in the space of 3 months. This was all from the time she started at secondary school.

I could see from her WhatsApp messages that her friendship group were all proclaiming trans identities, and adopting new names and pronouns. They were encouraging each other to choose names.

Only one girl responded with ‘everyone is trans these days’, all the other children were affirming each other.
The school’s transgender policy refers to children who are ‘trans’ as being brave and finding their ‘true’ gender. It talks about packers and binders and has links to Mermaids and GIDS.

I contacted the school to raise my concerns but these were brushed aside. The safeguarding lead said that the policy had been put in place because of the distress shown by the ‘trans’ children. I got the impression that she didn’t know what to do and thought she was being kind.

We haven’t affirmed our daughter’s ‘trans’ identity. I’m eternally grateful that I stumbled across Mumsnet and the dire warnings about Mermaids - I was all set to contact them for advice. Thanks to Transgender Trend and Safe Schools Alliance I feel more informed but I feel constantly on edge wondering what my daughter will do.

I was shown Mermaids and Stonewall material in a PSHE lesson around 15 years ago. It is the reason that I fight against Mermaids as an adult lesbian today. The homophobia was so stark. As a pupil, I had nowhere to turn as both the general atmosphere of the school and my parents were homophobic. I had hoped that adults would step in and solve the problem before now.

My daughter arrived at secondary school not knowing much about LGBTQ+ and the only club allowed at school that year (because of covid) was the LGBTQ club who encouraged her first to become an ally and then by the end of year seven she was considering herself pansexual and non binary.

The SENCO sent an email to all staff asking us to report conversations with parents who did not accept their daughter's social transition stating 'We are an inclusive school' as a result an extremely bright student was removed from school by parents.

Another child whose parents accepted her socially transitioning, was happy to use disabled toilets to change for PE until Mermaids got involved. She then began to demand to use the boys changing room even though both she and the boys found this embarrassing. The child was ASD and very vulnerable. Her relationship with her parents deteriorated after Mermaids intervention.

Staff were expected to deliver content on gender ideology to pupils as young as 11 years old.

Older children objected to the frequency of these lessons groaning 'Not this again'.

My year 9 mentor group asked me to email year manager who was pushing for more mixed sex toilets as they didn't want them. One said "Boys are disgusting. They s*it on the floor and j*z on the taps. It's bad enough for other boys. Why should girls have to put up with that?"

Girls would only use the mixed toilets groups. The doors were regularly kicked in on the girls side. The boys would pee in the sanitary bins and put whole toilet rolls down the toilet then pee on them.

Children instinctively know what sex someone is. They are open and accepting of others sexuality but gender ideology attempts to gaslight them.

When my daughter was 13, after a period of horrific bullying an ostracising at her new school, she joined the LGBT club (I’d urged her to join some lunch clubs and this was the only club her bully did not follow her to). She spent weeks fretting about being the only straight girl there. We were just happy she was making friends. Within a couple of months, she announced she was non binary, changing her name and that the school said there was nothing we could do. There was no suggestion of a pronoun change at this stage.

We told the school we wanted to arrange for psychological support before any changes were initiated and were told we had no say as parents. The child psychologist who then assessed her advised “watchful waiting” and that the adults in her life should not affirm her gender identity. We informed the school and again were told we had no say.

The following school year, when she was 14, we discovered the school were now affirming her as a boy and using male pronouns. This was behind our back, and against clinical advice. We were again told we had no say and the Year Head actually documented that the school was going to ignore the clinical advice we had received and would be using male pronouns for her because they cared about her well-being.

The Year Head later put in writing: “We just saw a young person who had had many issues in the past and thought this may have been an answer for [our daughter]”

The “many issues” she had had were persistent bullying and ostracisation.

The school eventually reported us to social services, stating our Daughter was at the threshold for child protection and that “There is a concern about their wellbeing and/or safety in relation to how the child's exploration of gender identity is being managed. ”

Social services agreed with the clinical advice we were given and said that in their view, the school was causing division. The school chose to ignore this.

We ended up withdrawing our daughter over our safeguarding concerns with the school. We were constantly undermined as parents and did not know what the school would say or do next. It was a horrific experience which I would not wish on any family.

We went through the full formal complaint process which took an entire academic year and the school were adamant they did no wrong (save possibly telling our son). It is my opinion that the school has done permanent damage to our daughter - it has certainly damaged our family.

I left my job as a Primary School TA (a job I’d loved and been effective in for many years) after we were asked to, as I see it,  be complicit in the ‘social transitioning’ of a year 2 (6 year old) child.  This was a child who liked some things more commonly liked by the opposite sex. Five or 10 years ago this would not have been any cause for concern, unless the child was being teased for it (in which case that would have been addressed by tackling the bullying; not changing the child!).

This social transitioning was with the support of the parents, and after a representative from the organisation Gendered Intelligence came into the school and delivered a 3 hour training to the Senior Leadership Team and some of the Governors.

I know other staff members were concerned and wanting to talk about what was behind this child's desire to be treated as if they were the opposite sex. No discussion was allowed; the Governors refused to meet with me to discuss Safeguarding and Equality concerns (I had never had such a response to any problem I had raised in school before), and the Head of the LEA did not respond to the letter detailing my (evidenced) concerns about the ‘affirmation’ route for such a young child, after an initial acknowledgment of my letter.  I keep writing, updating this person on issues such as The Interim Cass Report, in which Dame Hilary Cass said that 'social transitioning' is not a Neutral Act, but I suspect I am persona non grata.  The LEA and Council are Stonewall Champions.

I believe that teachers, headteachers, LEAs, Local Authorities and even Social Service Departments have been ideologically captured and are forgetting all they should know about child development and safeguarding in this rush for short-term apparent solutions to what may be a variety of psychosocial problems such as autism, bullying, trauma and even parental pressure (which then remain un-addressed). My biggest fear, still, about this child is that they will lose the chance turn out to be a well-adjusted same sex attracted adult (there is strong evidence that persistent gender nonconformity, especially in young boys, is correlated with growing to be a gay adult). Instead, I fear we are ‘transing’ potentially gay and lesbian children.

I have responded to the Consultation about the proposed Bill to criminalise Conversion Therapy. I have criticised the biased language used in the Consultation - the term ‘gender identity’ is not defined and is a contested belief, based on stereotyping what girls and boys are 'meant' to be like. I thought we had moved far away from those kinds of constraints on children, especially in a supposedly 'progressive' area where the school is sited. Instead, we've gone backwards, where boys who like pretty things are being allowed, or led, to believe they are actually girls and 'tomboys' are led to believe they are boys. This is particularly egregious when applied to small children, who go through a developmental stage of being confused about the difference between looking like a girl, and being a girl. That confusion is simply being exploited by 'gender identity ideology'. This is sexist. It's also potentially homophobic.

I have also argued that we risk people like me, teachers and therapists being unable to safeguard gay and lesbian children and teens, which is the very opposite of what the Bill would seek to achieve. Sexuality and gender identity should not be conflated.

The Government really needs to step up and the DfE and Ofsted put their money where their mouths are and, as you say, get biased lobby groups who are seeking to apply adult ‘solutions’ to children out of schools. I fear it's too deeply embedded - especially in Secondary Schools, where there is the pressure of social contagion, the internet and 'activist teachers'. Even in my school I believe there were a couple of young teachers who were all for this new, 'trendy' idea.

It is now several years since I left the school. Feeling helpless, frustrated and fearing that I was seen as unsupportive or 'bigoted' took its toll on my mental health. But I do not lie to children and I could not stay in those circumstances, feeling complicit in what I believe to be harm.

I’m a secondary school DSL and I am extremely worried about the distorted and conflicting messages we are giving our children, which seems to disproportionately affect girls.

On one hand, we teach critical thinking. On the other hand, gender ideology is taught as fact and anyone who questions it is labelled transphobic. We teach girls about misogyny - there are whole assemblies currently going on in schools on Andrew Tate - and we teach personal safety. On the other hand, girls are being taught to ‘be kind’ and accept male bodied people in their single sex spaces. We teach equality, yet we also teach that gender stereotypes of feminine and masculine are more important than biological sex. We teach tolerance, yet lesbian and gay children aren’t allowed to be same sex attracted anymore - that’s transphobic, and people with penises can identify as lesbians. We teach safeguarding and that the child’s welfare is paramount, but safeguarding and safety go out the window when it comes to the feelings of trans identifying people, including adult males.

Where are the adults in the room? Why are we allowing this ideology to infiltrate every area of public life, including schools, unchecked?

I feel like I am watching a mass safeguarding breach unfolding before my eyes and I am powerless to stop it.