by Freddie Attenborough, spiked
A charity has refused to help a seriously ill child because his mother fell foul of the pronoun police.
Working for the Free Speech Union (FSU), you see so many examples of callousness disguised as ‘social justice’ that it’s hard to be shocked by anything. Yet even I was blindsided when I came across the heartbreaking story of a Scottish single mother, whose seriously ill son was refused a place at a residential summer camp because of her gender-critical views.
The eight-year-old boy has a complex health condition that requires around-the-clock support. His mother applied for him to attend a two-day camp in July in Perthshire, Scotland, run by Over The Wall (OTW) – a camp that is free for children with special needs. A problem arose in March, however, when OTW probed the mother about a response in her son’s application form.
The charity had taken issue with her writing ‘Seriously?’ next to a question asking for her son’s ‘preferred pronouns’. When OTW’s clinical director, Sally McCluskie, asked the mother to explain this response, she replied that she believed in biological sex and didn’t think it was appropriate to ask children what their preferred pronouns might be. Hours later, she was told that her son’s application had been declined.