Parents, campaigners and political representatives gathered to the treatment of children experiencing distress
Concerns over the teaching of gender theory in schools and its potential impact on children were raised at a briefing held in Leinster House on Wednesday, September 16th.
The meeting was organised by the Education Matters Advocacy Group and hosted in the Oireachtas by Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn. Around 20 to 25 people attended, including politicians, parents, campaigners and representatives of a number of advocacy groups.
Among those present were Independent TD Carol Nolan, Senators Sharon Keogan and Rónán Mullen and Councillor Linda de Courcy. Representatives of Women’s Space Ireland, the Natural Women’s Council and Not All Gays also attended.
The briefing focused on the Department of Education’s procedures for preventing and addressing bullying in primary and post-primary schools, and concerns about the ideas now being introduced to children under the banner of inclusion and anti-bullying.
Opening the meeting, Sam Poynter of the Education Matters Advocacy Group argued that concerns about gender theory in education were too often dismissed as part of a “culture war”, when parents instead viewed them as questions of child safeguarding.
“We cannot allow it to be brushed aside as a culture war when, in fact, it is a child safeguarding issue,” she told the meeting.
Ms Poynter, a mother and former mental health nurse, questioned whether current educational and clinical approaches allowed sufficient room to examine the underlying causes of a young person’s distress.
She recalled learning during her nursing training about the use of lobotomies and how procedures once accepted within medicine were later recognised as unethical and deeply harmful. She compared this with the medical treatment now offered to people experiencing distress about their sex, warning that future generations could look back on these practices in much the same way.
Scottish detransitioner Michael Kerr spoke about his own experiences and what he described as “the reality of medicalisation in pursuit of identity”.
Mr Kerr rejected the belief that a person can be “born in the wrong body”, describing it as a detrimental idea which discourages professionals from investigating why someone may feel uncomfortable with his or her sex.
He said the root cause of his own distress was sexual trauma and spoke about subsequently bonding with friends who had experienced similar difficulties. He later began taking cross-sex hormones before deciding to detransition.
Mr Kerr told the meeting that some of the physical effects remain, including migraines, aches and pains and additional breast tissue. He warned that those who detransition can be left without adequate medical or psychological support.
Although he began taking hormones as an adult at the age of 25, Mr Kerr said presenting these ideas to children as uncontested fact represented a failure to protect them. He called for the underlying causes of distress to be examined and for children to be given time, space and appropriate psychological support. Mr Kerr, who is gay, also advocated removing LGBTQA+ campaigning and associated ideological material from schools, arguing that children should be allowed to be children without being encouraged to question their sex or view themselves through a series of labels.
Psychotherapist and Genspect founder Dr Stella O’Malley also addressed the briefing. Genspect is an international organisation which supports parents, families and people who have detransitioned, while advocating a more cautious approach to medical intervention.
Dr O’Malley rejected the ideas of having a “trans soul” or being born in the wrong body. She argued that distress about one’s sex should be approached primarily as a psychological issue and said it should not be promoted in either hospitals or schools as an identity requiring affirmation.
She said many people supported these policies at surface level because they appeared to be about kindness, inclusion and preventing bullying, without examining the wider ideology or the medical and psychological consequences behind them.
Dr O’Malley also said that some people who begin to question ‘transition’ can feel they have gone too far to turn back. However, she said a growing number were reconsidering their decisions and seeking help from organisations such as Genspect.
J.K. Lunden of the Natural Women’s Council raised concerns about the extent to which gender theory had entered educational materials across different school subjects and the National Educational Psychological Service. She also referred to proposed legislation to prohibit conversion practices, arguing that it could further reinforce an “affirmation-first” approach and make professionals reluctant to explore alternative explanations for a child or young person’s distress.
Speakers stressed that bullying of any child was unacceptable. However, they argued that protecting children from bullying should not prevent parents, teachers or medical professionals from questioning contested ideas or examining the evidence behind them.
The meeting concluded with calls for greater political engagement, stronger parental involvement and an open public discussion about the teaching of gender theory, the medicalisation of distressed young people and the safeguarding of children.
