Parts of a draft school guidance that said schools shouldn’t teach children about the concept of gender identity have “drifted far too much into partisan and unnecessary language,” says shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson.
She declined to say whether she would ditch the ban if Labour wins the general election, instead saying the existence of transgender people should be recognised while touring media studios on Sunday morning.
She also accused ministers of “picking fights, seeking headlines,” saying the issue is too important to be made “a culture wars issue on the front pages of newspapers.”
The remarks came after author JK Rowling, a former Labour donor, accused the party of abandoning women in the trans debate.
The Conservative government last month published a draft guidance on relationships education, relationships, and sex education (RSE), and Health education, which proposes a ban on sex education before year 5 and the teaching of “the contested theory of gender identity,” which is the idea that some people may have a different gender identity from their sex and that they were assigned, rather than born, male or female, at birth.
The guidance said the concept is “a highly contested and complex subject,” telling schools to “teach the facts about biological sex and not use any materials that present contested views as fact, including the view that gender is a spectrum” when asked about the topic.
Commenting on the guidance while appearing on the BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg” programme, Ms. Phillipson said schools do want clarity on the issue and she would make sure guidance is published if Labour wins the national poll on July 4.
Asked about her opinion on banning the teaching of gender identity, the shadow education secretary praised some aspects of the draft while claiming other elements had “drifted far too much into partisan and unnecessary language.”
Pressed on whether she wants to ditch the ban, she said: “There are trans people, they have a right for their existence to be recognised.
“Many people, many trans people, are vulnerable and are deserving of support. Alongside that, we’ve got to make sure that schools have got clear guidance about how best to support children and young people that are experiencing distress and issues around their wellbeing that is not well served by ministers picking fights, seeking headlines,” she said.
“Let’s take a more responsible approach. Let’s take the heat out of it. Let’s do this properly and seriously.”
The draft guidance is subject to an eight-week consultation that will close on July 11, a week after the general election.
Ms. Phillipson said if she becomes education secretary, she will want to look at all of the responses from the consultation, “do it responsibly, work with parents, with young people, and with the profession, to get this right.”
On Saturday, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was forced to defend the party’s record after Ms. Rowling said she won’t vote for Labour because of the party’s failure to support women who oppose the transgender ideology, including Labour MP candidate Rosie Duffield who recently said she was not attending local hustings because of “constant trolling.”
In 2021, Sir Keir described comments by Labour MP Rosie Duffield that only women have a cervix as “something that shouldn’t be said and were not right.”
In a televised debate on Thursday, the Labour leader agreed with one of his predecessors, Sir Tony Blair, saying “biologically, a woman is with a vagina and a man is with a penis.”
Writing in The Times of London, the Harry Potter author wrote: “As long as Labour remains dismissive and often offensive towards women fighting to retain the rights their foremothers thought were won for all time, I’ll struggle to support them.”
Reacting to her comments, Sir Keir said he’s “really proud of the long history of the Labour Party in making real progress on women’s rights, passing landmark legislation that has changed millions of lives.”
Earlier this month, an internet troll who posted online messages threatening to kill Ms. Rowling and Ms. Duffield was given suspended jail sentences.
