The parents of a pupil at a Brighton school have called for a public apology from council leader Bella Sankey after she dismissed their concerns as “baseless smears”.
Councillor Sankey made the remark at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting in response to a public question.
But the school’s head teacher has since conceded at least one aspect of a complaint by parents.
The head accepted that a child was using a breast-binder, with the knowledge of teachers, and this information was withheld from parents, and that the use of breast binders was dangerous.
The parents said that there were specific side-effects associated with breast-binders experienced by 97 per cent of those who use them. These included chest pain, shortness of breath and scarring.
At a meeting of the full council in July a member of the public asked Councillor Sankey about parental concerns about the teaching of gender in local schools.
The council leader said that the “claims and accusations are baseless smears”.
The question came from Adrian Hart, a community activist who belongs to PSHE Brighton, along with concerned teachers, social workers, governors and parents.
The forum was set up by and for those who are worried about PSHE (personal, social, health and economic) education in schools.
PSHE Brighton said: “Already we have been inundated with concerns from parents, staff and governors at a significant number of schools in Brighton and Hove.
“We have heard about concerns being raised with head teachers about the materials used in PSHE classes and about overzealous punishment for ‘misgendering’ for young children who innocently make a mistake in relation to a fellow pupil or teacher’s chosen pronoun.
“We have heard real concerns about schools socially transitioning children – changing their name and pronoun – which the NHS has said is not a neutral act.
“And we have heard about teachers engaging in discussion about breast-binding and other interventions that irreversibly change a child’s body without (those teachers) having the necessary qualifications or talking to the child’s parents.
“Schools are hiding behind the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit published by the council.
“It is time that the council step up, step back from the Toolkit in its current form and take a safeguarding first approach, ensuring all schools in the city do the same.”
The parents seeking an apology from the council leader said: “It is shameful that Bella Sankey should refer to any parental concern as a baseless smear.
“It is even worse as her council knew about our formal complaint to the school at the time she made this comment … they provided lawyers to the school to help them respond to it.
“Rather than admit the significant safeguarding issues exist, Bella Sankey doubled down in the full council meeting on Thursday 19 October. She said ‘I don’t recognise any of the concerns’ that we have raised.
“We cannot understand how this statement can be true. We wrote directly to her well in advance of the meeting setting out our concerns and setting out that the complaint about breast-binders has been conceded by the head teacher.
“There is no sense in which she can therefore possibly fail to recognise our concerns.”
PSHE Brighton said that anyone else with concerns about PSHE and relationships and sex education (RSE) and associated issues in Brighton and Hove schools could get in touch with PSHE Brighton at www.pshebrighton.org.
My god! I would want more than an apology! How dare they? Lawyer up people
Labour lying like the greens.
That’s stupid though. What are you lawyering up about?
Empty the bins.
Remove the rubbish.
Clean the graffiti.
Get rid of the junkies, drunks, aggressive beggars and drug dealers.
…..and fix the damn potholes!!!
Yes Jane. Repeating it constantly when it’s well established as a concern though, does little to further the matter, more likely to do the opposite. Especially when it’s chanted in unrelated forums.
It is clear that the leader of our council is not being totally honest about the situation in schools. When examples have been given to her she has said these are ‘baseless smears” and that she “does not recognise the concerns”.
Gas lighting
shameful and irresponsible reaction.
Irresponsible perhaps. On reflection I would like to know why this information came out after the comments and not before them? Presumably, it was known about beforehand, the semantics are indicating.
I am aware from personal experience that a secondary school in Brighton has encouraged a child to socially transition without their parent’s knowledge. I also raised issues with the Trans Toolkit directly with the Governors approximately five years ago. To say that that the Council are unaware of the significant concerns parents have around this issue is, in my opinion, not truthful.
Undeniably, this issue is politically very dangerous, especially for Labour, but they really cannot stick their heads in the sand any longer. Many teenage girls (often lesbian and/or autistic) are being harmed by this ideology, and schools have had a big part to play in this.
I am grateful to Mr Hart and others for standing up and asking these questions. If only Ms Sankey and colleagues had similar courage.
It sounds like his toolkit has been the crux of the matter. I think it is right to arm teachers and councils with knowledge in a standardised way, and considering the speed our collective understanding of body dysmorphia is improving, the toolkit should, in my opinion, also be comprehensively and rapidly updated accordingly.
It’s written by authors that have no professional paediatrician or legal credentials. It’s deluded from the ground up, it’s sole purpose seems to be to provide a grey space for unqualified ideologues to do whatever they want with vulnerable children. It’s earlier iteration explicitly presented parents as hostile, it still contains pathways to exclude parents.
Makes sense then to have one written up by authors who have a professional paediatrician and legal credentials. Whatever interpretation you believe it to be currently written for is, however, your own prerogative and not particularly helpful.
True body dysmorphia is extremely rare, and not something most children experience, or have a clue about. This is absolute indoctrination.
About 1,340,000 are estimated to have body dysmorphia in the UK, which equates to about 2% of the population. To put that into perspective, 3,800,000 are suspect to have diabetes in the UK. We can therefore confer that is, in fact, not “extremely rare” at all.
This is so shocking from the council.
Sad that discussions on this issue cannot be free of misinformation and refusal to acknowledge legitimate concerns.
Because it can be an emotive issue, that can be quite the barrier to amicable debate, I agree with you Bob.
I was there at that meeting and saw and heard Bella Sankey’s reaction, it was way over the top to the point of being aggressive, and totally dismissive, and after that they close the meeting or together to ask members of the public who had questions that had been accepted so we never did get to ask them or put them forward.
At the time this happened I thought a nerve had been touched I still think so.
It is horrifying that parental consent and safeguarding seem to count for nothing these days.
I was passionately in love with my favourite teacher for a good three years from 12-15.
Does that mean I should have been encouraged to have an ‘affirming’ physical relationship with them
because I knew my own mind and had ‘rights’?
Sometimes kids need protecting from themselves and their own adolescent whizzbomb of emotions and hormones. Puberty is hell for every child, no matter what or who they eventually grow up to be.
Youngsters go through many phases in the growing up process and need to be given a safe space to do so.
It is disingenuous of Councillor Sankey to dismiss all parents’ valid concerns about what is going on in schools as either ‘baseless smears’ or ‘transphobia’ – a term which only applies to the protected characteristic of adults over the age of consent. A child is a child under the age of consent and relies on the adults in their lives to protect them from all harm and undue influence.
Sankey has been in power for 5 months but what has she actually done for this city yet?
Get back to emptying the bins and stop interfering in schools.
Spot on.
Could B&HN maybe commit to a statement about their stance on trans rights? Because this seems to be an issue that gets particularly poor quality reporting and the only voices routinely aired on the matter here are transphobic agitators.
If you have a bias, guys, it’d be sporting of you to admit to it upfront.
What a bizarre accusation. ‘Transphobic agitators’ is such a loaded phrase that it suggests you have a considerable degree of bias yourself.
Read the articles on this website from the recent inquests after the death of 2 trans youngsters. The coverage of Alice Litman’s inquest was especially extensive and sensitive.
When supporting children through puberty and adolescence, it may not be in their best interests to agree with everything they say or do. It’s one thing to encourage a child to explore his or her or their identity, but it’s quite another to start them down a life-changing road prematurely. To make this sort of point is not transphobic.
If someone has the maturity and agency to make these choices, I’m all for providing loving support. I’m not sure, though, that what are, at their root, clinical decisions, in terms of mental and physical health, should be made by teachers who lack the relevant medical training and qualifications.
Doctors understand that the first rule of medical ethics is to do no harm. When each of two binary choices risks harm, then minimising that harm is vital.
The council leader sounds as though she may not have been fully briefed on a complex situation. Simplistic sloganising and immature claims that people who hold genuine concerns are making baseless claims or are transphobic agitators do not serve anyone’s interests, let alone those of children going through genuine confusion about their gender identity.
They’ve made no attempt to moderate the frankly awful comment section here, or on other similar pieces. B&HN don’t have a single trans voice, or trans-supporting organisation’s voice, in this article or any of the others I’ve seen here on the topic. They consistently give a platform to people like Jean Calder and Adrian Hart without any critical eye toward them. PSHE Brighton are an openly anti-trans organisation and are also given an unabashed plug at the bottom of the article.
Anyone who knows their history knows it is censorship which is dangerous, not civilised discussion and debate between differing viewpoints. Your call for more moderation on this messageboard or the cancelling of certain individuals you do not agree with is frankly sinister.
Civilised societies can only exist with full and frank discussion leading to consensus. Britain used to be famed for its free speech and democracy. – the reason why so many cultures were attracted to moving here and away from strictures elsewhere. We are in danger of losing sight of what once made this country the envy of the world. And at the expense of child safeguarding. Trans does not need its own PR or activism. individuals either are or they aren’t – and can do what they like once they reach the age of consent
Your comment seems totally biased towards trans ideology so not surprised you don’t approve when child safeguarding is highlighted as being more important than exploration of gender identity! If “trans organisations” could accept that safeguarding and protecting children has priority then maybe they’d be given more of a platform to speak.
Some Guy, you say “PSHE are an openly anti-trans organisation”. I see no evidence for that. Can you produce some?
Sankey’s aggressive comments and the use of the ‘I’ as opposed to ‘the Council’ or ‘on behalf of the council’ is concerning. Why is she talking for herself when she is supposed to be the leader of the council to enact and oversee policies that are in the best interests of the Band H residents. So she publicly lied in a full council meeting and on public record. A similar comment was made in the recent Full Council meeting on 19th October where she publicly stated’ I absolutely REFUTE these allegations. The agenda behind it is clear’ when asked a question from a concerned resident called Kay who was constantly interrupted and shouted down by the Mayor and Councillors and then dragged out by 4 security guards. She was treated disgustingly for asking a question which clearly hits a sensitive nerve for the Council.
What agenda??? So concerned parents and residents are following an apparent insidious agenda because they have provable evidence of breach of all decency and parental rights occurring in Band H schools, driven by the well funded trans lobby.
I remember when I was at School. Children were children. Teachers taught children and children paid attention to their teachers. There was none of this liberalism, in which today, is destroying humanity. Why is there so much nonsense surrounding gender and why is the Labour Council controlling what is abnormal behaviour and abnormal way of life. Children should not be exposed to such abomination. Especially in schools and parents must be allowed to parent their children without any interference from outsiders.
Human race are certainly entering into Frankenstein’s lair to become Frankenstein’s Monsters. George Orwell’s 1984 certainly has become reality, because George Orwell certainly has predicted some weirdness in his books like Animal Farm and 1984. I feel for the human race.
And that is what true bigotry looks like folks, in case you needed an example.
Brighton and Hove is full of cancel culture and folk who cannot accept not everyone are sheep which follows liberal fools and possibly same liberals which are antisemites.
And is what a non-sensical assortment of buzzwords with sound emotive, but have no real meaning behind them, other than to sound angry about something. Another aspect of bigotry that is commonly used, in case you needed a further, more detailed example.
I was waiting to ask a question at that meeting, but the Mayor decided to shorten the length of time allocated for previously approved questions. This left only around 3-4 allowed, whilst a further 10ish of us were sent away, having taken time out of our day to attend.
We had a video link to the questions being raised in the chamber, and were shocked at Bella Sankeys response. Not only did she suggest the claims were baseless, she also then tried to pull the racist card. It was the most ludicrous response I think I have ever heard. Clearly scripted, and totally irrelevant.
What did she pull the racist card on?
I wasn’t at that meeting but heard about the scandal.
I would go further, ban trans-teachers, ban Stonewall, encourage all de- transitioners, obviously mostly women, to sue the relevant authorities. Teach children a boy is a boy and a girl is a girl, get rid of trans-tools. Bring back sanity.
Maybe sit this one out.
Denying the lived reality for these poor kids has historically just pushed them to suicide in depressingly high numbers.
I agree with Anon. Such weak understanding shows why even though you are perfectly entitled to an opinion, it really shouldn’t be listened to.
There’s plenty of knowledge and understanding available in the paediatric world, check out Dr Cass’s work in this area.
The issue here is politicians have over ridden their qualified guidance, parental legal authority and any form of safeguarding replacing them with unqualified, unregulated and unmonitored individuals being validated by an ideological policy.
Calling out the consequences of this is a baseless smear. I’m
“Patcham Dude” is not Dr Cass however, so how is that a logical response to my comment? I would recommend you read the entire thread before jumping in at the first buzzword you see.
I’m going to stick up for Council leader, Bella Sankey, here. She has to front up council policies, and support council staff, whilst also working with local schools, and it can be a juggle.
In this case it seems she was misinformed about the facts of an individual case, which is why she said claims being made were baseless.
We also live in an age where people are being forced to take sides on issues which are often complex and not black or white, and where you can quickly get shouted down when you seem to have got the grey areas wrong, or simply disagree.
In this case there is the trans activist viewpoint, the anti trans viewpoint spun by papers like the Daily Mail, and then there’s actually what is right for any child who is going through a difficult period in working out their identity.
What’s difficult for any school is that young teens can’t really give consent on many decisions, and the schools don’t know whether to support the child first, or to report instead straight to the parents – and the guidelines they are given are often changing.
Many parents will also want some expert help or guidance, and won’t want to be called transphobic. You can see however that no parent would wish to see their 13 year old girl being encouraged to wear breast binders, or pushed towards some irreversible journey.
It’s time that the shouting stopped so that sensitive issues can be discussed rationally by those concerned, and without the need for dog whistle politics.
And because our schools are involved, it does become a matter for council to issue policy over – even where most of us residents are more concerned about getting bins emptied and our pavements being weeded.
In an attempt to educate myself – and to avoid being part of the shouty debate, or to take sides – I’ve looked up what the council policy actually is.
And the latest version is called the Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit 2021, which itself is updated from the original 2018 version.
Note that this ‘toolkit’ has been adopted by several other councils across the UK, in response to the needs of their schools.
This latest 2021 version was also produced under the previous, Green-led, council. And we do know that the Green party has had its own issues and problems in dealing with policies relating to Trans people.
But take a look and see what you think.
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/node/776/trans-inclusion-schools-toolkit-2021
You should be asking yourself why the ‘trans inclusion toolkit’ has become a thing all of a sudden when the majority of us grew up just fine without it. It seems to be coming from the adults, not the children or any grassroots source. Why can’t they leave well alone and let children be children? Teachers are there to teach not to interfere in or influence pupils’ future private lives or sexualities. A robust anti-bullying policy is all that’s needed to protect the child who marches to the beat of a different drum. Sankey needs to go if she thinks this trans agenda is more important than either looking after the city or her own council’s legal child safeguarding duties. Didn’t she promise Labour would prioritise sorting out the basics when they were elected?
I am always flabbergasted when people are so lacking in self awareness that they can use the phrase ‘this become a thing all of a sudden when the majority of us grew up just fine without it.’
This situation is all about young trans people and who are very much in the minority. It never used to be a thing because people were taught to hide who they really were, with often tragic consequences. No one should need to adhere to what the majority is in terms of gender conformity. And whilst this situation seems complex and maybe the way it’s been dealt with isn’t perfect, we are now at least aware of kids’ struggles in this regard and trying to find ways to help those who need it at a very difficult time in their life.
The following sentence from your council link is shocking.
“There is no equivalent national guidance available yet and so we see this as an important addition to the range of equality and anti-bullying resources and guidance we provide to education settings in Brighton & Hove.”
In other words, Brighton and Hove City Council are admitting they have taken it upon themselves to do their own thing and are following no national professional guidance, which would presumably include input from top child psychiatric and medical experts.
This admission leaves the council wide open to legal action from parents – even more of our council tax wasted.
I would strongly suggest people consult “Boys and Girls and the Equality Act – Guidance for Schools” published by Sex Matters and Transgender Trend, which is strongly based on existing law and takes sex-based legal rights into account.
https://sex-matters.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Boys-and-Girls-and-the-Equality-Act-May-2021-England-and-Wales.pdf
This seems an unusual thing to share as it displays a substantial misunderstanding of the Equality Act (2010). I would advise any school or parent to be very wary of this publication, and indeed if the advice was followed by schools they would be carrying out active discrimination.
Sally,
Could you help us out and be a little more specific please? It’s not clear from your note why their advice would be active discrimination.
Sex matters founders’ include Maya Forstater who along with her legal team set a legal precedent that a biological belief in sex is an acceptable belief in law.
Forstater v Centre for Global Development Europe
This legal precedent is opposed to the BHCC policy, unsupported in law or GCSE Biology, that sex is a matter of individual self ID, in this case by children, as outlined in their policies and enforced by the Labour leadership team.
If anyone has a substantial understanding of the Equality Act 2010 I’d believe Sex Matters and their legal advisory team on this over anyone in BHCC.
If you’re up for further recommendations go see what happened to Nicola Sturgeon on the topic of legalising Self ID.
Billy Short….was it you who wrote councillor Sankey’s “baseless smears” speech?
Katy, haha, but no.
Do you think I could have a career as a speechwriter?
Well, thanks for that.
Got a love it when Katy throws baseless accusations around unironically.
It’s the trans People who are shouting, against someone who is giving a perfectly ordered moderate viewpoint. Speak to the parents. As comments have suggested, children and adolescents do need help, but not from people who have an ideological self serving agenda, but from completely unbiased counsellors.
Patcham Guy, in your earlier post you said “I would go further, ban trans-teachers”
Why would we do that? Surely a teacher is judged or assessed on their ability to teach?
Or would you also ban black teachers, or gay teachers, or women teachers, or left-handed teachers, according to what prejudice you have that a day?
In the US the right-wing evangelists moved on from the Critical race theory conspiracy to Trans-gender conspiracies . They took over local newspapers,
school boards, got books banned and teachers sacked. There’s a living to be made.
Seems like Adrian Hart has been taking notes
These are not conspiracies. Gender identity is a social construct and we are living through a time of mass delusion when children are being taught they can change sex. If we celebrated androgynous boys, masculine girls and truly accepted same-sex attraction, this ideology would not have taken hold via the social contagion of social media and Stonewall reinforcing compliance in workplaces and schools. As a parent whose Brighton school was more than happy to change my 12 year old’s name and pronouns because of the gender-affirming Trans Toolkit and external PSHE provider Allsorts, even though that would have made irreversible medical transition more likely, I know this is no conspiracy. Schools and councils should be prioritising safeguarding, not socially transitioning a child behind parents’ backs. I recommend When Kids Say They’re Trans by Stella O’Malley, Sasha Ayad and Lisa Marchiano for any concerned parents.
It’s fascinating that Sankey seeks to blame the Greens for every other unpopular move or policy but seems to want to hang onto this political hot potato to the point of abusing any parent or member of the electorate who questions it by dismissing their concerns as ‘baseless smears’.
This is a potentially career-ending course she is committing herself to once the lawsuits start rolling in from parents and even former children.
Education should come first in school, and we seem to be drifting away from that. Utterly horrifying that what was going on with this child was hidden – parents should know.
Schools have become much more than just a place of learning these days, providing a lot of aspects that would have historically been picked up in the home environment. I find it odd that the parent of the child using a breast binder has not been highlighted as a potential concern, but maybe that was outside the scope of this article.
How is the parent of an underage child given a breast binder without either a medical/psychiatric diagnosis or parental consent the problem?
You sound like you are the problem if a loving and concerned parent who is alarmed enough by secretive behaviour and no school safeguarding is an unfit parent in your world.
Loving parents educate their children from the earliest age; ‘If a grown-up tells you to keep a secret, don’t. Always tell your parents’ to keep them safe from grooming and inappropriate behaviour.
They do that, and we all did.
And then Brighton schools dismantled that too. All in the interests of inclusion, just not the inclusion of parents, mums, dads or carers, or safeguarding
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10527267/Parent-fury-Brighton-primary-schools-tell-staff-NOT-say-mum-dad.html
Graham, let me in on a little piece of advice. When we’re trying to use source material to make a point, avoid newspapers like the plague, they are secondary sources, and really, really bad as an argument. Furthermore, I like to use this particular illustration as an example of why the Daily Fail in particular, is egregious in this.
List of Things that The Daily Mail Says Causes Cancer.
https://thetownend.com/index.php?topic=38270.0;wap2
If you are a parent or have family affected by these issues… or would be an ally and supporter to have these issues addressed… please visit PSHEBrighton.org and register your interest via the contact form!
This is outrageous. Schools and the council shouldn’t be encouraging breast binders so vigorously when they don’t even know the physical harms. To be told it’s a baseless smear is the height of ignorance. Hope the parents take them to court.
They aren’t encouraging them, like at all. Be very careful, that’s how misinformation starts, my friend.
Like this misinformation in the Telegraph? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/27/activist-teachers-survey-pupils-gender-confusion-claim/
Well, Barry, considering that article does not include the words “breast” or “binder” we might think you’re part of the problem by trying to pass off adjacent stories as relevant to what is being said. My point is proven, misinformation can be a slippery slope.
Benjamin,
From the article “ “And we have heard about teachers engaging in discussion about breast-binding and other interventions that irreversibly change a child’s body without (those teachers) having the necessary qualifications or talking to the child’s parents.”
Encourage means “give confidence, hope or support to”. That’s what’s happened in this example, because to not encourage would have required the school team to bring in the parents and get qualified guidance on the child’s symptoms, and it’s also what a number of local parents are saying.
Again Graham, you REALLY need to read the answer before commenting. Again, my point is proven. Misinformation can happen even from someone simply confusing the discussion.
The trans toolkit is being abolished by councils….
e.g. Oxford and Wandsworth, with more to follow suit.
It is clearly fabricated nonsense and those who promoted it will be held to account and likely face legal action against them soon.
PSHE Brighton is fighting the insidious grooming of our kids to believe the ludicrous and quasi-spiritual idea that they can be ‘born in the wrong body’ in undisclosed PSHE lessons, and deserves our full support. My daughter was socially transitioned behind my back at school, despite the NHS’s independent review finding that ‘social transition is not a neutral act’. This is a social contagion leading to butchery and child sterilisation. The Transgender Toolkit, which schools are blindly following in the absence of clear directives from the DofE, contradicts the Equalities Act in key ways — see Transgender Trend’s rebuttal to this. https://www.transgendertrend.com/
I’m a parent with a child in a local Brighton school.
From this part of the article “ The head accepted that a child was using a breast-binder, with the knowledge of teachers, and this information was withheld from parents, and that the use of breast binders was dangerous.”
Breast binding is classified as child abuse by Sussex Police:
“ …binder, is used to stop them from growing.”
“ Although there’s no specific law within the UK around breast ironing, it’s a form of child abuse.”
What height does the bar need to be for this Labour team to recognise this as a safeguarding issue for Brighton children? This is only happening because of policies like their Trans Inclusion Toolkit creating the grey places for safeguarding to be eliminated.
What is stopping them from directing local schools to follow well known professional educational safeguarding?
How does labelling parents calling out a form of child abuse as a baseless smear support child education? Who’s winning here?
https://www.sussex.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/caa/child-abuse/breast-ironing-flattening/
Safeguarding is done by a third party to the council, and is politically neutral. I share your concerns if reporting had not occured, that is a objectively a failure of those who knew.
Thanks Benjamin. As a parent in a local school in Brighton I have spent five years looking for that third party, which agency are you referring to? First rule of safeguarding is no secrets, only transparency.
I have learnt that safeguarding is taught to all adults involved with any education related services and expected to be enforced as a principal by everyone. Parents expect and believe this is so, otherwise we won’t trust our institutions with our children.
In this particular context the enforcement has been dismantled by the Labour council’s policies. This article presents irrefutable evidence of this, and I’d recommend being observant of where this topic is not addressed in an objective way, for example other local media outlets.
This is a major, local scandal that is having a massive, negative impact on local families and for the majority of people working for BHCC as social, health and educational professionals.
Our local politicians need to apologise.
BHSCP, Brighton SAB, teachers, assistance, the local council, the police, paramedics, doctors, nurses, every single allied health profession, the fire service, ICS, the local PCN, Family Hub, YMCA, Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, and St Peters to name a few non-exhaustively that share the responsibility of safeguarding children and young people.
And actually, the first rule of safeguarding is comprehensive reporting and sharing of information between these organisations. We have a much better evidence base looking at high-profile cases where this hasn’t happened, such as the preventable tragedy of Baby P, and the subsequent investigation.
I have no problem with someone who can hold a viewpoint, and have great respect for those who can accept changes to that viewpoint based on new information coming to light.
Thank you, appreciate the list.
So why are they keeping quiet despite all the evidence that’s been presented to them?
It’s because they’re intimidated. Because of the political climate that’s led by our local Labour Party.
I think to explain that, I’d have to explain the entirety of what safeguarding is. If you would like to learn, there are quite a few free resources out there, NHS do an excellently comprehensive one. Although, I suspect you’re just being disingenuous by throwing ad hominems around with no substance to your baseless claims. Ironically.
Aren’t suicide rates rocketing today, precisely because of trans activists putting ideas into youngsters minds, and making them more confused? If a trans teacher was the most qualified say to teach maths or english I don’t think there would be a problem. However I think their very existence in schools is to influence the children, Stonewall and others, (who are the real bigots) have given their orders. As for the books being banned in America, I say all power to the parents as they are no more than pure porn with the sort of language you used to see in men’s toilets. Who wants to teach boys how to pleasure each other? It’s the road to ruin, all the evidence is there. It’s just that LGBT activists make up their own statistics. I shall ignore the rest of Billy’s baseless assumptions.
Well, I mean to start off with .. we called them chest binders, so perhaps demonstrating the depth of their knowledge, they could, you know use the correct terms.. if they did they might know, most chest binders are just layered compressive fabrics, almost like a minimiser sport crop. They can be cotton and breatheable. Kids (or anyone) not having access to safe binders or affirmative support, often leads to isolated experimenting with tapes and harmful binding practices.
The damage is when people can’t bind, not when they can with support.
It’s just laughable really, this small group of terrified so-called professionals, protesting the extinction of their wilful ignorance, refusing training.. using stigmatising terms… proclaiming to know all, dictating for those beyond their own… this is the definition of institutionalised bias, stigma and inequality… maybe if these people could focus on the real issues for our young people, perhaps trans people could stop being used to distract from further failings..
as if a minority of trans folk are the cause of the cost of living or fuel crisis? Are we?
Is my flat bound chest the cause of a war, anywhere. I could be wrong but from my perspective, maybe my chest is just more out of the way and nobodies business?
From experience I can say birthing and feeding my two kids, did far more damage and changes to my chest than years of binding have, not to mention the best way to mitigate long term binding issues is healthcare access to medication or surgery.
Many Cisgender people have more complicated cosmetic breast surgery, that needs revision every 10 years.. is it that too surgery is only acceptable to this gang of uneducated fool, when people want to increase the size of their chest perhaps?
No wonder our kids are struggling if it’s permissible to discuss the latest plastic surgery a celebrity is having, and some blithering idiots want to pick on trans kids trying to be authentically healthy.
STAY STRONG KIDS. TRANS RIGHTS. HAPPY BINDING.
Oak,
You’ve provided a great example of the standard of rationale being applied on this topic by a minority of professionals with personal agendas supported by this Labour council.
Your tactic of casually changing the meaning of words to evade professional safeguarding practice that protect children is the same key tool used by the Council to dismantle safeguarding practices in the city. This tactic has no basis in professional paediatric care and has failed every instance of legal challenge, this article being just one example. There are many examples in the city. Each example is a broken family, with damaged children, caused by the City council and the policies they’re protecting at any cost.
It’s causing enormous damage and needs to stop.
Appalling how members of this council and this government are pushing this trans-nonsense on young children. They should be sacked. Years ago if an adult was brain-washing children in this way they would be labelled a pedo, arrested and cautioned by the police. Get rid of these woke civil servants. Cut all funding to woke ideology. Brighton and Hove City Council should focus on repairing the roads, cutting the grass verges properly and collecting the household waste.
#BrightonAndHoveCityCouncil
#BHCC
#TransIsToxic
#NoToWokeIdeology
#LeaveThemKidsAlone
And if we go back even further, you’d have homosexual people also arrested and put in prison, ignorance is hardly a compelling argument, all you’re doing here is ironically arguing for the thing you disagree with.
Anyone who thinks breast binders are OK, try one for a week and get back to us. You won’t. It is a dangerous practice. Parents have every right to question these obsessed education transologist. Who seem to think the most important issue at school is, do you want to change sex.
The response by Council Leader Sankey fell well short of the standard we should be able to expect. She might disagree with the questioners, etc, but that’s no excuse. Having listened again to the webcast, it worries me to hear such a dismissive response to safeguarding concerns.