The government of the United Kingdom is set to release new guidelines for how schools should respond to students who claim a transgender identity, and indications are that the guidelines will be stricter than those in the United States.
The issue of how schools respond to transgender students has become a culture war flashpoint over the past several years. School districts in the United States have faced a cascade of lawsuits and scrutiny over policies allowing students to adopt a different gender identity at school without parental knowledge or consent.
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In some states, schools have even gone as far as to train teachers and staff in how to keep so-called social transitions a secret from parents. Social transitions typically involve people wearing clothes or using a name and pronouns that do not correspond to their biological gender.
The new rules in the U.K., while not eliminating "social transitions," differ significantly from the policies of many U.S. school districts in that the forthcoming U.K. guidelines are expected to require parental consent for such transitions, the Times of London reported. The outlet also reported that the guidelines for school officials will have a "presumption against" transitioning.
A spokesperson for the U.K. government, which is currently controlled by the Conservative Party, told the Guardian that the government is taking its time with finalizing the document "to make sure the guidance we provide is clear." The guidelines were initially expected to be released this summer.
"Any degree of social transition could have significant consequences for a child, so it’s vital the right safeguards are in place," the spokesperson told the outlet. "The government has been consistently clear about the importance of biological sex, and the guidance will reflect that.”
In the United States, the issue has become a centerpiece of the parental rights debate, especially at the state level. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) issued new regulatory policies that required parental consent for social transitions and were met by fierce resistance from some of the more liberal school districts in the state, which have sought to keep their old policies in place.
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Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, the chairman of the medical watchdog group Do No Harm, told the Washington Examiner in a statement that the fact the U.K.'s guidelines allow for social transitions at all is "unfortunate," adding that "when children claim the desire to undergo gender transition, they should be referred to mental health professionals, and not to school counselors."
"However," he noted, "this policies’ ‘presumption against’ children transitioning at least provides a small measure of protection for children when compared to U.S. policies which are significantly more lax and allow children to socially transition in school much quicker.”