Hold a statutory public inquiry into Gender Identity Ideology and Queer Theory

We want the Government to hold a Statutory Public Inquiry into the extent to which Gender Identity Ideology and Queer Theory have become prevalent in public services, and the impacts. We believe Education, the NHS, and the broader public realm have been cognitively captured resulting in harm.

We consider Gender Identity Ideology to be a set of beliefs that includes the idea that people can have a gender that is different from their sex. Queer Theory is a perspective that challenges traditional assumptions about gender and sexuality. We see this as ideological groupthink that has become orthodoxy causing people to lose jobs, some children to have irreversible medical treatment, and women’s rights to be subverted. We are concerned Standards in Public Life seem to have been by-passed.

The Equality Act 2010 provides protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation on a number of grounds (protected characteristics). Protected characteristics in the Act are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

The Government is addressing a number of specific issues in this area. The Minister for Women and Equalities has made clear her views on this issue - biological sex clearly exists and matters. The Government also believes in the principle of individual liberty and in the humanity and dignity of every person. There are processes in place, with the right checks and balances, to allow for those who wish to legally change their gender to do so.

As the Minister for Women and Equalities set out in her letter of 21 February 2023 to Baroness Falkner, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), she is concerned that the Equality Act may not be sufficiently clear in the balance it strikes between the interests of people with different protected characteristics, particularly in the case of the protected characteristics of ‘sex’, ‘gender reassignment’ and ‘sexual orientation’. The Minister for Women and Equalities regularly seeks advice from the EHRC as part of her role. It is right that the Government continues to keep legislation under review, ensuring that it is effective.

In relation to children, in December the Department for Education published for consultation comprehensive draft guidance for teachers on how to support pupils questioning their gender. Parents, teachers, and school leaders were encouraged to respond to the 12-week consultation, which closed on 12 March. We thank everyone for their engagement with the consultation and will set out details on next steps shortly. The draft guidance places beyond doubt the fundamental principle that parents should be involved in decisions about their children’s lives, and that significant decisions affecting a child’s future should not be taken without parents being involved. It makes clear that schools do not have to accept a child’s request to socially transition, removes any confusion about the protections that must be in place for children of both sexes and the need for single-sex spaces. It reaffirms that safety and safeguarding for all children must always be schools’ primary concern.