Trans charities are 'pitting parents against schools' by encouraging them to dispute Government guidance, peers have been told.
Baroness Barran, an education minister, told the House of Lords she was concerned about 'quite oppositional' positions of some charities following the guidance's publication.
It says teachers and pupils would not be 'compelled' to use a child's preferred pronouns. It also tells school staff not to 'exclude' parents from decisions taken relating to requests for a child to 'socially transition'.
The education department's public consultation over the guidance is due to close in the coming weeks.
Charities such as Stonewall have urged parents to challenge schools over trans and gender-questioning children.
Meanwhile, the Mermaids organisation released a template letter for parents to send to schools. Its tone was described by human rights charity Sex Matters as 'bullying'.
Baroness Barran said: 'The anecdotes we hear are that the guidance is already having an impact on parents, who feel able to ask schools to account for their decisions.'
She said she shared concerns that campaigns run by some charities 'are quite oppositional in tone and are pitting parents against schools, which the guidance explicitly tries to avoid'.
