Patrick Christys: If I send my child to school I want them to be taught maths and English - not told that they may have been born into the wrong body

Patrick Christys: If I send my child to school I want them to be taught maths and English - not told that they may have been born into the wrong body
13 patrick
Patrick Christys

By Patrick Christys


Published: 13/08/2021

- 09:16

Updated: 13/08/2021

- 11:22

Patrick gives his take on the Scotland trans row

Sometimes a story drops that’s so ridiculous you have to pinch yourself to make sure it isn’t a horrible dream.

A new LGBT inclusivity document from the Scottish government says that children as young as four can come out as transgender at school, teachers aren’t allowed to question them, instead they just have to ask them what they want their new name to be and they don’t have to inform the parents.


Presumably mum and dad just find out on parents evening when Sam starts being referred to as Samantha, or when they get selected for the girls football team. These children can use whatever toilet or changing room they want – which clearly poses no safety risk whatsoever. Posters challenging gender stereotypes should be put up in classrooms – possibly next to the even bigger one of Scotland’s Dear Leader Nicola Sturgeon, the first of the Sturgeon dynasty.

A new government prescribed reading list includes books that feature a primary school-age narrator who says she has “a girl brain but a boy body” and claimed she knew that she was transgender as a toddler.

All of this comes despite a prominent Scottish lawyer, Aidan O’Neill, coming out, for want of a better phrase, and saying it was probably illegal to allow a child to change gender without informing their parents.

But that doesn’t matter to poundland Braveheart Nicola Sturgeon, because she IS the law up North, like an ultra-progressive William Wallace.

I’ve got huge concerns about this on numerous levels.

If I send my child to school I want them to be taught maths, English, maybe a smattering of French and probably a bit of art. I don’t want them to be told that they may have been born into the wrong body by a 45-year-old Key Stage 1 teacher called Sandra, who then doesn’t do me the common courtesy of informing me that my child has changed their name and started cross-dressing.

What qualifies Sandra from the geography department to have those kind of discussions with my child? Is she a trained medical professional? Is she a trained child behavioural psychologist?

I’d have no problem whatsoever if my child came out as gay or transgender. I’d just want them to be free, happy and to feel comfortable in their own skin. But I’d like to have those conversations with them myself. I’d like to deal with that at home. And I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

The world is confusing enough for 4-year-olds. When I was that age I was probably running around naked, picking my nose and playing with my imaginary best friend, which was probably a unicorn. Not having my head filled with existential thoughts about my gender identity by a newly qualified primary school teacher.

The stats suggests that a quarter of trans young people have attempted suicide, I actually think this policy could see that number increase, not decrease, as mass confusion and crises of identity sweep a young generation already bombarded by strange and oppressive Covid legislation.

And the point is I’m not convinced there’s mass support for this. When you enact a policy across your entire education system, it affects everyone.

When the people of Scotland voted for the SNP, were they voting for Nicola Sturgeon to remove their rights as parents to have a say in their own child’s gender identity? No, they weren’t. And if it was put to a referendum it would lose in massive numbers.

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