Keir Starmer says he doesn’t want schools teaching young people about transgender identities

[u/PinkNews]

https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/06/25/keir-starmer-trans-education-general-election-2024/

[u/Kwinza]

“I think we need to complete the consultation process and make sure that there is guidance that is age appropriate.

That is helpful for teachers and has at its heart the safeguarding of children.”

Story over nothing. He didn't say he doesn't want schools teaching gender, he said they want to wait until they have all the facts as to how to teach it.

But its pinknews, its basically the dailymail of the far left.

[u/potpan0 → u/Kwinza]

He didn't say he doesn't want schools teaching gender

He quite literally stated that “No, I’m not in favour of ideology being taught in our schools on gender.” You're choosing to reference the most innocuous comment while ignoring the much more problematic one.

If the man calling for a consultation is regurgitating the rhetoric of people very much opposed to the existence of trans people, and when he's consistently had meetings with transphobes while largely sidelining trans people and people who support trans rights, then it does not bode well for the composition of that consultation.

[u/Tom22174 → u/potpan0]

To me that sounds like he doesn't want teachers pushing personal views, he wants to consult with experts to figure out how to teach it properly

[u/saviouroftheweak → u/Tom22174]

The antiquated and dangerous idea that being LGBT+ is a taught event

[u/Tom22174 → u/saviouroftheweak]

You don't teach people to be LGBT. You teach people about what it means to be LGBT so those who are but don't understand it yet can and those who aren't can get a correct understanding before the bigots get in and instill fear of the other.

Doing that correctly is difficult because teachers when left to their own devices, will teach their opinions, that is dangerous because it opens the door for the anti-trans crowd to push their beliefs on children if there is no structured curriculum in place

[u/HelloYesThisIsFemale → u/Tom22174]

The issue is that when you teach kids about astronauts and Spiderman, they'll suddenly want to be astronauts and Spiderman. I understand that being gay/trans is an actual state of being, if you are you are. But it's a spectrum and for my kids personally I'd rather teach them to stay on the cishet side if they're somewhere not too far in the spectrum i.e. a heteronormative perspective.

If for your kids you want to teach that anyone can and should be whatever then go for it. But don't do it with public money.

I certainly wouldn't want a teacher in a school I fund with my public money to teach about controversial political views. That topic should be left to the parents if and when.

[u/Tom22174 → u/HelloYesThisIsFemale]

I understand why you think this way, and people having these concerns is one of the reasons this is something that needs to be approached with absolute care, but I disagree with the premise and I also think it is kind of part of the problem I was talking about.

Kids will learn about LGBT people long before they get to sex ed. They don't currently decide they want to become gay, statistically, they're more likely to just bully the gay kid in class for being different. Introducing the concept and explaining that it is different to how most of the kids are but still normal, before kids start to get pumped full of sex hormones by puberty (i.e. when sex ed is currently taught), would significantly reduce the number of children that either are lgbt and don't understand why they are different or don't understand why their class mate is different.

As an extreme example, a key reason for doing this would be the direct correlation between acceptance of LGBT people and reduction of teen suicide/self-harm (especially for trans people and providing them with the support they need instead of vilifying them).

But also, teachers just need to know the appropriate response when a 6 year old asks them why their friend has two mums. We obviously don't want them to accidentally go into more detail than is appropriate, but we also don't need teachers inadvertently (or intentionally) giving these kids negative views of it either

[u/HelloYesThisIsFemale → u/Tom22174]

I think that's fair and reduction of self harm and bullying can be something we strive for. I do think we should attack bullying though not the reasons for bullying. Give harsh punishments to bullies and even online slander (or something, I'm not an expert here).

But fair, if it's approached like "Some people are different and you shouldn't hurt them for it" then that's a good lesson to teach.

[u/trdef → u/HelloYesThisIsFemale]

Give harsh punishments to bullies and even online slander (or something, I'm not an expert here).

Just punishing people has been shown time and time again to make no difference. What does is teaching people tolerance for those different than them.