A charity has warned that the NSPCC’s gender guidance is “confused”, potentially putting children at risk by encouraging them to use opposite-sex changing rooms(The Telegraph).
The campaign group Sex Matters has claimed that the child protection organisation’s unit for keeping children safe in sport “actively encourages” organisations to put children in harm’s way.
Following several scandals over the NSPCC’s approach to trans ideology, Sex Matters has written the Department for Education (DfE) urging them to force the NSPCC to alter its stance
Established in 2001 under the NSPCC umbrella, the Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) was set up in response to a series of child-abuse scandals.
It receives public funding in the form of grants from organisations like Sport England, UK Sport and the Football Association.
A CPSU briefing document from May 2022 titled “Safe use of changing facilities and toilets” attempts to help sports clubs and other organisations navigate the issue of children’s changing room procedures.
The document says: “Using gendered changing facilities can be a source of stress for transgender and non-binary children.
“Sport and activity providers should consider how to support these young people to use the changing rooms that they feel comfortable with.”
However, Sex Matters argues that, by “ignoring” biological sex in favour of gender, the guidance “runs counter to good safeguarding practice”
Its guidance implies that children should be able to choose facilities intended for the opposite biological sex.
“The guidance would lead to a boy being allowed to change with girls (and sometimes women) or a girl to change with boys (and sometimes men) in a changing room that is designated ‘single sex’, and being supervised by staff or volunteers of the opposite sex.”
In April, The Telegraph reported that an NSPCC whistleblower quit the charity, claiming that it had been “completely captured” by the campaign group Stonewall.
Last year it was revealed that the Childline website, overseen by the NSPCC, was accused of failing children after teenagers. Teenagers who believed they were trans were told via the site to seek potentially dangerous treatments behind their parents’ backs.
Sex Matters is led by Maya Forstater. The influential camaigners legal battle with her former employer established the principle that gender critical beliefs are protected in law.
In a letter to Janet Daby, DfE minister, seen by The Telegraph, she writes: “Remembering what sex children are is crucial to safeguarding children.”
She adds: “The [CPSU] guidance actively encourages organisations to put children in situations of potential risk and harm, and to undermine record-keeping.”
A spokesman for the NSPCC said: “The NSPCC is committed to protecting and supporting all children, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
“These are protected characteristics under the Equality Act and all our policies, advice and guidance are in line with the protections afforded by law, in addition to the guidance issued by the NHS.”
Worth reading in full.
