Yahoo Sports School told to transition pupils to their ‘true identity’ or face discrimination claims
Staff at the equalities watchdog told a school that they had to socially transition a pupil, it has emerged, amid warnings that the organisation has been “captured” by gender ideology.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) warned a school that if it did not allow pupils to use single-sex facilities, which matched their “true gender identity”, it “would constitute an act of discrimination”.
The letter has emerged after Baroness Falkner, its chairman, successfully faced down a coup by activist staff as she tried to rebalance the commission’s approach to trans rights. Her allies said the “shocking” letter was the kind of behaviour at the “captured” organisation that she was attempting to change.
A source at the EHRC said: “Ideologues had captured the EHRC before Baroness Falkner took over, we know now from the Cass Review [on gender identity] that socially transitioning a child is not a neutral act.”
Complained to Mermaids
The school’s head teacher received the letter in 2016 after a girl in year 10, who identified as a boy, complained to Mermaids, the trans lobby group, that teachers were not letting her use the boys’ changing rooms or play rugby.
After Mermaids passed the complaint to the EHRC, the watchdog’s solicitor wrote to the head teacher urging them to support the child’s gender transition.
The solicitor sent passages from guidance used in Brighton and Hove, which was not the area that the school was based in, stating that trans pupils should be able to take part in PE, competitions, and sports days “in a manner consistent with their gender identity”.
The EHRC employee then asked the school to confirm what they were doing to “support” the students’ transition.
Documents seen by this newspaper show that in the same year EHRC staff met with Mermaids as part of a “scoping exercise” to see if there were any test cases on trans discrimination that they could take to court.
Any legal action could have set a precedent, though it is understood that none of the cases that Mermaids proposed were deemed suitable to pursue.
‘Align with their gender identity’
A year later, the EHRC, attempted to produce its own schools guidance. It enlisted Mermaids and Gendered Intelligence, another trans lobby group.
The guidance, seen by the Telegraph, said that a “positive action strategy” would be allowing children to use single-sex spaces that “align with their gender identity” and pupils who were uncomfortable could use other facilities.
It noted that changing a new name and pronouns was an “important step” in social transition, and said it could be considered discriminatory if a school did not change them at a pupil’s request. It said that parents should be consulted “where possible”.
The EHRC draft guidance was abandoned when Lady Falkner was appointed in December 2020. A spokesman said that after she was appointed, they reviewed the draft and felt it was “beyond our equality law remit”, and it was decided that guidance should be left to the Department for Education.
The EHRC source added: “While this letter and guidance are shocking, they are unsurprising because it was known that extreme trans activism was hiding in plain sight at the EHRC before [Lady]Falkner took over.”
