The UK’s left-wing Labour Party may consider abandoning current government guidance instructing schools to teach that there are only two biological sexes – a policy that could easily be overturned as the Conservative government has failed to enshrine it in law. Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said that if elected, a Labour government would review Rishi Sunak’s administration guidance, which advised educators not to teach far-left gender ideology as fact.
The draft policy covers theories such as people being born into the wrong body, the ability to change sexual identity, or inhabiting new grey areas like “non-binary. It also instructs teachers to clarify that there are only two sexes: male and female. However, given the Conservatives’ refusal to codify these positions into law and instead merely present them in optional guidance, the next government will likely face few obstacles to issuing new directives.
When questioned by the BBC on whether a Labour government would revoke this guidance, Phillipson hesitated to provide a clear answer but suggested that a change may be on the table. She acknowledged some positive elements in the draft policy while criticizing others for straying into politically-charged and unnecessary language that makes it difficult for schools to navigate.
Despite this, Phillipson emphasized that “there are trans people within society and their existence should be recognized,” noting that the issue has become a political football. She added that Labour would conduct a consultation before making any final decision on the matter.
Current Education Secretary Gillian Keegan criticized Phillipson’s comments, asserting that they confirmed that a Labour government would play politics with children’s lives by discarding guidance on Gender Questioning Children and effectively enabling contested gender ideology to be taught in schools.
Labour Party leader Sir Kier Starmer has been somewhat inconsistent in his messaging on gender, initially claiming that “99.9 per cent” of women could not have penises before later revising his stance to define a woman as an “adult female. In May, the party suggested it would make it easier for individuals to self-identify their gender but later backtracked on this plan.
However, the Guardian reported that Labour may seek to “modernize” the process of legal gender changes by eliminating the need for multiple doctors’ signatures and reducing the requirement to demonstrate two years of living as the opposite gender. While this move is likely to be popular among Labour’s urban base, the party has faced criticism from some quarters in the UK, including from J.K. Rowling.
Rowling, a longtime Labour supporter, said over the weekend that she would struggle to vote for the party due to its perceived abandonment of women in favor of transgender ideology.