Britain’s Minister for Women and Equality, Penny Mourdant, has reportedly asked officials to look into the factors driving an increase in the number of young people accessing transgender support services.

The United Kingdom, like most countries, has seen an increase in the number of young people requesting support for gender dysphoria. British newspapers are reporting that the Minister has asked health department officials to look into the role that education and social media might have.

The move has been welcomed by activists who argue that societal pressures are causing more teenagers to experience gender dysphoria. Stephanie Davies-Arai from pressure group Transgender Trend has welcomed the reports that the minister is looking into the issue.

Transgender Trend describe themselves as a group of parents concerned about the ‘transgender narrative’. They recently were criticised by the UK’s leading gay rights group Stonewall for creating stickers for pencils cases that had anti-transgender messages.

The stickers includes messages such as “kids shouldn’t be taught in school that they can choose to be a boy or a girl”, “No child is ‘born in the wrong body’, “teenagers are coming out as transgender after social media binges” and “medical sex-change treatment for children is an experiement”.

A spokesperson for Stonewall told online publication Schools Week that the stickers contributed to an environment which allowed bullying of transgender children to 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.” the spokesperson said.

Stephanie Davies-Arai said the pencil case stickers were not aimed at children but were developed for adults.

OIP Staff