A series of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests revealed in June that councils in Scotland have widely backed guidelines produced by organisations campaigning for the rights of transgender people, but have not considered how the new approach will affect children – particularly girls.
None of the councils involved, nor the children’s commissioner, nor Education Scotland have carried out an equality impact assessment to ensure that the rights and well-being of other pupils are unaffected.
Girls negatively affected
Lodged by feminist campaigner and mother of two Jess Stewart, the FoI results suggest councils are failing to consider the ramifications of the move. ‘Girls are absolutely negatively affected by this … they should at least have looked at the possible fall out from putting a male-bodied person in changing rooms which are being used by [young] girls.
As explored in en January 2018, the guidelines tell teachers that if a transgender pupil wishes to share a changing room with ‘other young people who share their gender identity’, they should be allowed to do so and if other pupils are uncomfortable using changing rooms or toilets with transgender pupils, those pupils should use other facilities.
No policies and harassment
Education Scotland said it did not have any policies itself relating to transgender pupils and therefore ‘there has been no requirement for Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA) in relation to any new or revised policies or procedures regarding transgender and non-binary school children’.
Ms Stewart added: ‘Most of the organisations who have endorsed the LGBT guidance are publicly-funded, which means they have a responsibility to be transparent to the public about their decision-making process and the importance of taking into account the risks and equalities of everyone. [There has been a] sharp increase of sexual harassment and assaults of girls within schools [but] we are telling our girls they no longer have the right to set their own boundaries of who can be within their private spaces when vulnerable.’
Guidance only?
James Morton, manager of the Scottish Trans Alliance, said EQIAs had not been carried out because the document distributed by councils was guidance, not an official policy. ‘If it became an official policy position they should do an EQIA and I’m sure it would show that there isn’t any negative impact on other pupils,’ he said.
