Headteachers of prestigious private schools have been given advice on how to support pupils with gender dysphoria from a trans activist and former trustee of Mermaids.
The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, which is a leading body of headteachers of elite UK private schools, held a closed event for its spring conference including a speech from Bobbi Pickard, chief executive of Trans in the City and a former trustee of trans charity Mermaids, titled “The Gift of Trans”.
This was followed by a talk from Dan Squires KC of Matrix Chambers examining whether the law is required to treat trans-identifying children as their declared gender, as well as the legality of excluding or admitting trans children to single-sex schools.
A group of parents of trans-identifying children, many of whom attend HMC private schools, have now raised concerns over the talk by Bobbi Pickard, which they say will present a “simplistic and glamorised perspective” instead of “offering school leaders an understanding of the complexity and vulnerability of their trans-identified students”.
The letter, from parents of the Bayswater Support Group, representing 600 families of trans-identifying children, goes on to state that a “significant number” of their members have children at HMC schools and that they are “wary of medical solutions to gender dysphoria”.
