Det kristne foreldreparet Nigel og Sally Rowe i England oppfordrer Church of England (CofE) til å oppgi sin transkjønnsveiledning, en veiledning som sier at barn helt ned til fem år bør bekreftes hvis de ønsker å identifisere seg som det motsatte kjønn. Det er Christian Concern som omtaler saken, og som støtter ekteparet.
Familien Rowes hadde uttrykt bekymring etter at to gutter i sønnenes klasser i en alder av seks år fikk lov til å komme til Isle of Wight-skolen og identifisere seg som jenter. Skolen uttalte at de ikke “krevde noen formell medisinsk/psykologisk vurdering og rapportering når en elev søker å bli behandlet som transkjønnet.”
Ekteparet Rowe ble gitt et ultimatum om å “akseptere eller forlate” skolen dersom dersom deres barn ville opptre “transfobisk” og vise en “manglende evne til å tro at en transperson faktisk er en “ekte” kvinne eller mann ” eller nektet å ”erkjenne en transkjønnets sanne kjønn, f.eks. ved å unnlate å bruke sitt adopterte navn eller ved å bruke kjønnsupassende pronomen.» Det lokale bispedømmet Church of England støttet skolens posisjon basert på dens ‘Valuing All God’s Children’-veiledning om å utfordre homofobisk, bi-fobisk og transfobisk mobbing.
Det lokale bispedømmet til Church of England støttet skolens standpunkt basert på dens ‘Valuing All God’s Children’-veiledning om å utfordre homofobisk, bi-fobisk og transfobisk mobbing.
Veiledningen ‘Valuing All God’s Children’ fra Church of England gjelder alle skolene kirken er ansvarlig for og er gjennomsyret av radikal kjønnsteori og den virkelighetsforståelsen denne teorien bygger på. Ønsket om å forhindre mobbing og diskriminering, fører kirken i grøften på motsatt side, den tvinger alle barn til å akseptere de skeives virkelighetsforståelse.
I sitt åpne brev til Church of England skriver Nigel og Sally Rowe:
The Most Reverend
Archbishop Justin Welby
Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Palace
London SE1 7JU
October 7, 2022
Dear Archbishop Justin,You will remember that five years ago we raised an issue with you about six-year-old pupils being
allowed to identify in the opposite sex at our sons’ Church of England primary school. As we said at the
time, we don’t believe schools should be allowing young children to identify in the opposite sex. In UK
law you cannot change legal gender until you are 18 years old. Scientifically, you cannot change your
biological sex. Furthermore, basic Christian teaching is that we are all created male or female and that
the differences between the sexes are beautiful, designed and complementary, and should be
respected in society. We are all created male and female (Genesis 1:27).Our sons were distressed and upset by being told that they must refer to their friends according to their
adopted gender. We were also concerned for the harmful effects on the children who were allowed to
socially transition, as well as the effects on all the other children in the school.
As you will remember, the school rejected our complaint and said in a letter that our son would be
deemed to be demonstrating “transphobic behaviour” if he refused to refer to pupils by their adopted
name or pronouns.We were very disturbed by this and therefore raised the issue with Portsmouth Diocesan Board of
Education, our local Church of England diocese. To our great surprise and disappointment, the diocese
supported the school’s position, referring to the “Valuing All God’s Children” guidance for Church of
England Schools. This notorious guidance actually says that children as young as five years old should
be affirmed by Church of England schools if they wish to identify as the opposite sex.
With great sadness we decided that we were not prepared to allow our children to continue to be
disturbed and pressured into affirming the opposite gender to the God-given gender of fellow
pupils. In order to protect our children, we chose to withdraw them from the school, and we have
been home-schooling them since then. We are pleased to report that the confusion and distress has
now lifted, and they are now thriving and much happier boys. We are confident that in this we made
the right decision.We continued to be concerned for the effects of the school’s policy on the other pupils at the school.
We were also concerned about how this policy would affect other schools across the country.
Consequently, we wrote to the Department for Education (DfE) calling on the Secretary of State to intervene
and provide clear guidance for schools in how to handle pupils who wish to identify as the opposite sex. We
also presented extensive expert evidence to the DfE showing how trans affirming policies can have
‘catastrophic outcomes’ for gender confused children. When the DfE refused to properly assess this evidence,
we pursued a judicial review of this decision which was given permission to be heard by Lord Justice Lane in
February this year.Rather than face a judicial review, the DfE has now agreed to settle the case. In doing so, the government
has committed to reform the guidance for schools on transgender issues and has awarded us £22,000 to
cover legal costs.In August of this year, The Rt Hon Suella Braverman MP, then Attorney General, gave a speech about how these
guidelines will be shaped. In this speech she stated:“The problem is that many schools and teachers believe – incorrectly – that they are under an
absolute legal obligation to treat children who are gender questioning according to their
preference, in all ways and all respects, from preferred pronouns to use of facilities and
competing in sports. All this is sometimes taking place without informing their parents or
taking into account the impact on other children. Anyone who questions such an approach is
accused of transphobia. In my view, this approach is not supported by the law.”
This therefore states that the approach of Church of England schools, and the guidance in
Valuing All God’s Children is not supported by the law. She added:“Further, no child should be made to fear punishment or disadvantage for questioning what
they are being taught, or refusing to adopt a preferred pronoun for a gender questioning child,
or complaining about a gender questioning child using their toilets or changing rooms, or
refusing to take part in activities promoted by Stonewall or other such organisations. The right
to freedom of belief, thought, conscience and speech must be protected.”It is plain that the Valuing All God’s Children entirely fails to address the important steps that are required in
order to safeguard children as outlined by the Attorney-General. Therefore, Church of England schools, such
as the one our sons attended, are violating the clear guidance from the then Attorney General in forcing
children to affirm the acquired gender of fellow pupils and failing to require basic steps to be taken to keep
children safe.Now that the former Attorney General has made these clear statements about the law and how schools should
respond to pupils who wish to identify in the opposite sex in support of our own position, we wanted to write
to urge you to urgently review the Church of England’s position on this. It is clear that Valuing All God’s Children
should be scrapped. The position of Church of England schools in affirming gender transition of young pupils
and forcing pupils to comply with this is now untenable.The government has openly criticised the practice of Church of England schools in this respect.
We therefore ask you to withdraw the Valuing All God’s Children guidance as a matter of urgency for the sake
of protecting the children. We also request a meeting with you to discuss these points and what the Church of
England will do about them at your earliest convenience.We are sure that you will agree that the safety and wellbeing of all God’s children taught in Church of England
schools is a matter of the highest importance, and we look forward to meeting with you to discuss what the
Church of England will do to ensure that what happened in our sons’ school does not happen again elsewhere.Yours sincerely,
Nigel & Sally Rowe
