The charity Stonewall has condemned the actions of pressure group Transgender Trend in publishing a set of stickers on its website which promote messages such as “kids shouldn’t be taught in school that they can choose to be a boy or a girl”.

The stickers, which director of Transgender Trend Stephanie Davies-Arai‏ recommended to put “all over your pencil case”, also state “teenagers are coming out as transgender after social media binges”.

Another states “children confused about their sex usually grow out of it”, while one asks “do you know what is being taught in your child’s school about gender identity?”

A spokesperson for Stonewall, which campaigns for the equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people across Britain, said the stickers contribute to “an environment where the bullying of trans students can flourish”.

“Trans young people are facing horrific levels of bullying,” she said. “Our 2017 School Report found nearly two in three trans pupils (64 per cent) are bullied for being LGBT, while one in ten (nine per cent) have received death threats.

“As the toxic debate over trans people’s rights intensifies, this contributes to an environment where the bullying of trans students can flourish.”

But Davies-Arai told Schools Week the messages are “factual” and were created to make people think. “At the moment children are taught in schools that they can choose to be a boy or a girl, that it’s their gender identity that makes them a boy or a girl.

“We’re very, very concerned about that message. We have to be much more cautious about the message we’re giving in schools.”

Under the Equality Act 2010, schools must protect against discrimination, harassment and victimisation of people with nine protected characteristics. These include gender reassignment, which applies to a person who is “proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning the person’s sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex”.
In July, Schools Week reported on new statistics that showed almost one in ten of the most serious incidents of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools was actually perpetrated by member of teaching staff.

Davies-Arai said the stickers were not designed for young people to use. However some Twitter users have suggested they would be “great for schools” or for “studying gender for English and sociology A levels”. Read more via Schools Week