by Joanna Williams, spiked
Toddlers in NHS nurseries are encouraged to believe the lie that they can be born in the wrong body.
April’s Supreme Court ruling that ‘woman’ refers to biological sex, not gender identity, might have dealt a severe blow to transgender activists, but their destructive influence is far from over. Last week, it emerged that NHS staff working in nurseries at hospitals in Brighton and Haywards Heath have been given ‘gender guidance’ and are instructed to be aware that some children’s feelings do ‘not match their bodies’.
The equality and diversity policy of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust informs nursery nurses that ‘for the majority of children the gender in which they are born fits them’, before going on to warn that there are some young children whose feelings do not ‘match their bodies in terms of expected dress and behaviour’. This, the guidance helpfully points out, ‘is sometimes known as gender variance or gender non-conformity’.
This means that, when it comes to looking after the young children in their care, staff are expected to avoid saying ‘boys and girls’ or dividing children according to sex. The guidance, seen by The Times, warns that ‘all areas of the curriculum and resources will be closely monitored to ensure that they do not rely on gender stereotypes or contain transphobic material’. This is a momentous task indeed, when even biological facts about the existence of two sexes can be considered transphobic.