Suella Braverman is right to take on trans teaching in schools

Three cheers for Suella Braverman. The Attorney General has made clear that it is not appropriate for schools to teach young children that gender is a choice. Speaking at the think tank Policy Exchange on Wednesday, Braverman stated that teachers should not be in the business of indoctrinating children with ‘one sided and controversial views on gender’. To do so, she warned, may leave them in breach of government guidance.

What’s more, Braverman indicated, schools should not allow children to change gender – whether by using a different name or pronouns, wearing a different uniform, or using the toilets meant for the opposite sex – without their parents’ consent.

Thank goodness this has finally been said. But what a sad sign of how far schools have succumbed to the progressive doctrines promoted by groups like Stonewall and Mermaids that such statements of the obvious needed saying at all.

A fortnight ago, the announcement that the Tavistock is to be shut down came as a huge relief to those who have long raised concerns about practices at the NHS’s child gender clinic. But this was only ever half the story. The Tavistock dealt with children after they had been referred for medical intervention. It was not solely responsible for the 20-fold increase in such referrals in a decade, with more than 5,000 children referred in the last year alone. Braverman is absolutely right to turn her attention to what children are learning at school that is leaving so many confused about their gender.