The British LGBT organization Stonewall, which is heavily funded by UK taxpayers, is urging teachers to stop using the words “boy” and “girl”. Instead, they should say “learner”, according to guidelines reported by the Daily Telegraph. In addition, the organization that fights for the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals is urging schools to give children the option of wearing skirts or pants regardless of their gender.
Stonewall received funding from the government last year for programs against “homophobic, biphobic and transphobic” behavior in schools. Between 2015 and 2019, the organization received almost three million pounds (€3.49 million) in funding from various government sources. In addition, many large companies pay Stonewall money (starting from €2,909) to participate in diversity programs.
Joint physical education classes for boys and girls
The LGBT organization also recommends schools transform to embrace an LGBT ideology and abolish gender norms. Children should, for example, attend the same physical education class regardless of their gender and be able to use changing rooms and showers according to their preferences. Stonewall also advises that elementary school children should learn to name their preferred pronoun. In English, this would be “he/him” or “she/her” or for transgender people “they/them”. Teachers should also teach children to use the pronouns “they/them”.
Stonewall has established a School and College Champion Program of hundreds of schools, which involves participants paying a three-digit amount for this training, which then gives them the right to take part in competitions for particularly LGBT-friendly schools.
The conservative Safe Schools Alliance UK has criticized the recommendation to teach children of both sexes in joint physical education and to let boys compete against girls. It continues to call for separate physical education classes for safety and fairness reasons. In the past, hundreds of female athletes have voiced their concern over biological men participating in sports, but that has done little to keep progressives from working to abolish gender in sports.
Recently, Stonewall caused a stir by demanding that the word “mother” be abandoned for the “person who gave birth to children“.
Ministers criticize the organization
Stonewall was founded in 1989 to lobby for gay and lesbian rights. In recent years, the association has shifted its focus more on transgender issues. This has led to a partial split in the gay and lesbian movement.
Some gays and lesbians find that the organization is neglecting its traditional role and shifting unilaterally to trans-lobbyism.
More recently, several key Johnson administration ministers, including Minister for Women and Equality, Liz Truss, have spoken out against Stonewall. Government agencies should no longer participate in and pay for Stonewall’s Diversity Champion program, she said.
The former head of the National Health Service (NHS), Kate Grimes, who had supported Stonewall as a lesbian, recently accused the organization of being “no longer compatible” with NHS values. According to her, Stonewall threatens safety in the NHS by advocating shared changing rooms and showers for men and women, trans men and trans women. In addition, the Stonewall pressure endangers freedom of expression and free debate on these issues.
