Fighting for trans kids to feel safe at school

It’s difficult for trans people in the UK right now, but it’s even harder for trans kids. Kids lack the same power and voice as adults. They find it much harder to stand up for themselves against discrimination. So we are fighting for them – to make sure that trans kids can feel safe at school.

Up and down the country, schools are telling trans kids that they are no longer allowed to use toilets and changing rooms which match their identity. But schools should be able to make sensitive and flexible decisions within the law which make sure trans kids can use appropriate facilities. We’re defending one school that has continued to take an inclusive approach, but is now facing a legal challenge as a result. 

One pupil and her parent are challenging the school. They want a blanket policy restricting toilet and changing room use to biological sex, instead of the school’s current case-by-case approach for trans students.  

Our position – set out in our summary grounds of defence – is clear. The school’s current approach allows staff to make lawful, considered decisions that balance competing rights and safeguarding duties, and are based on the specific circumstances of each case. A blanket policy would remove that discretion and stop the school looking after individual students.  

We have also written to the government about its draft schools guidance, which we think could encourage schools to discriminate against trans students. In our response, we say that the guidance needs to better explain how schools should provide facilities which don’t discriminate against trans kids.

But it’s not just toilets and changing rooms. Schools impose many harmful gender stereotypes on kids – and these have the biggest impact on trans students. In our response to the draft schools guidance, we say that schools should think about how they can remove these harmful gender norms from all of their policies, giving kids more freedom to be themselves. This may be particularly important for trans kids, but benefits everyone.

We are suing a school which imposes a strict gendered uniform policy for students – saying girls have to wear skirts and boys must wear trousers. We think this is a backwards policy that doesn’t belong in this century, and that it discriminates based on sex. But it also discriminates against trans students, who are particularly impacted by having to wear a stereotypical, gendered uniform which makes them feel uncomfortable.

This school made a trans boy wear a skirt, even though he said he was transitioning. When he asked to wear trousers, the school told him he would have to show medical evidence recommending he socially transition. Then the staff gave him an ultimatum: wear a skirt or stay at home. He eventually stopped attending school due to the impact on his mental health.  

This month we took the next step in our legal challenge, filing our particulars of claim. We believe the school discriminated against him on the basis of sex and/or gender reassignment, forcing him to wear a skirt even though the school were aware of the serious impact it was having on his wellbeing.

This campaign is about more than one child. It’s about making sure schools make fair, flexible decisions that protect all students – and don’t apply rigid rules that cause harm. Kids have enough to deal with at school without having to put up with discrimination. We think all kids should be able to feel safe at school – including trans kids. That’s why we’ll keep fighting to protect them.