Gender Fluidity: U.K. Introduces New ‘Gender Neutral’ Rules For School Clothing

Under a new “gender neutral” ruling, boys can wear skirts and girls can wear the pants at schools in the United Kingdom.

As the debate continues in the U.S. involving bathrooms and transgender people, 88 schools in the United Kingdom, including 40 primary schools, have welcomed a new rule allowing students to wear whatever they want when attending classes, irrespective of their gender.

The U.K. government has funded the move in order to be more open to school children going through a gender identity crisis.

Andrea Williams, the chief executive of Christian Concern, reportedly said, “We are increasingly seeing boundaries being overstepped and it is concerning.”

Boys can wear skirts to school under UK’s new uniform policies https://t.co/aUxwfMxDiL via @IBTimesUK

— PATRICIA STOCKMAN (@pesb2012) June 13, 2016

A spokesperson for Stonewall, an organization campaigning for the equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) people across the U.K., told the Independent, “We welcome all efforts to support young people on trans and gender identity issues and ensure that they feel happy, welcome and accepted at school, and it’s encouraging to see this move.”

The spokesperson added that no transgender person “should be forced to present in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable,” adding that this can be deeply damaging, particularly in young people.

The International Business Times quotes Julia Neal, the chairwoman of the ATL teaching union’s equality and diversity committee, as saying there must be no space for “gender identity prejudice” in education.

Neal went on to say it is about senior management teams and governing bodies understanding there are a lot of facilities in schools that are separated, including bathrooms, changing rooms, and uniforms which are very gender-specific.

“If there is gender fluidity they need to understand the importance of gender neutral facilities. And they need to understand how pupils want to be referred to, as he or she. It’s a delicate area,” she said.

In related news on the Inquisitr:

• Gender-Neutral Bathroom Opens In The White House Following Obama LGBT Executive Order
• Transgender Mental Illness Classification Axed In Denmark — First Nation To Spite The World Health Organization’s Slow Progress
• Transgender Woman Dies After Hospital Staff Argue For An Hour Over Which Gender Ward To Use

Allens Croft School in Birmingham is said to be the first state primary school to adopt the new “gender neutral” policy.

Schoolboys allowed to wear skirts under new ‘gender neutral’ uniform rules https://t.co/0nru2pAYms

— The Independent (@Independent) June 13, 2016

However, according to a report by the Independent, while the ruling by the U.K. government is relatively new, back in January, Brighton College, a 170-year-old private school, had already made a move to omit the dress code for transgender students.

According to headmaster Richard Cairns, the change followed requests from a small number of families with children at the school, and he said the move ties in with his own strong personal belief that “youngsters should be respected for who they are.”

“If some boys and girls are happier identifying with a different gender from that in which they were born, then my job is to make sure that we accommodate that. My only interest as headmaster is their welfare and happiness.”

The school has a Gender Society for its students, and a girl at the school was the first to raise the issue with the headmaster, together with her parents. The girl was the first pupil to wear what had been known as the boy’s uniform and was soon followed by other students.

While the new ruling affects all schools, including primary schools, which children attend up to age 11 in the UK, reportedly in the case of Brighton College, the rule change only affected students aged 11 or over.

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