The rhetoric is ramping up: the Government has supposedly “banned” schools from teaching children about transgender identities. Its new statutory guidance on sex education has been condemned as another Section 28, which draws a parallel with 1980s legislation that outlawed the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

It’s a completely false equivalence, but a post on X making these claims has been viewed more than half a million times. What’s really happening is that the Government, albeit with some reluctance, is finally taking steps towards removing the bizarre and unscientific claims inserted by outside organizations into sex education in schools.

Parents have been astonished to hear children claim there are 20 or 30 genders, and spouting jargon about being “born in the wrong body”. In some instances, concerned mothers and fathers have been told they can’t see materials used in sex education, with external providers citing commercial confidentiality. There’s long been a safeguarding issue here, with some parents blaming misleading claims about gender identity for the rise in children claiming to be transgender.

Far from “banning” any mention of gay relationships, the new guidance on Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) encourages primary schools “to include same-sex parents” in discussions about family structures. It also says secondary schools should provide opportunities “to explore the features of stable and healthy same-sex relationships”.

Where the guidance does take a stand, though not as firmly as critics would like, is on the promotion of gender ideology. It’s good to see a statement that children should be taught “the facts and the law about biological sex”. But it’s not clear why they’re supposed to learn about “the protected characteristic of gender reassignment”. Transgender Trend, which campaigns for science-based education in schools, points out that “children are not duty-bearers under the Equality Act and this has nothing to do with sex education”.

What schools should not do, and this is what has upset trans activists, is teach contested views as fact. To be specific, “they should not teach as fact that all people have a gender identity”. They should also “avoid any suggestion that social transition is a simple solution to feelings of distress or discomfort”. It’s a welcome step towards protecting unhappy children from the false hope that “identifying” as the opposite sex is the answer to their problems.

What’s really shocking is that such propaganda was ever allowed into educational establishments, yet some Labour politicians still haven’t got the message. Only last month, several MPs and a minister expressed support for an organization that promotes the idea that sex is ‘assigned at birth’ and gender is on a ‘spectrum’. Kim Leadbeater, Paul Davies, Darren Paffey and Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty posed in front of the logo of the Pop’n’Olly franchise, which provides “queer theory” for kids aged 8-11.

Let’s hope MPs have read the section of the new guidance that says schools should avoid “materials that use cartoons or diagrams that oversimplify this topic, that could be interpreted as being aimed at younger children…or encourage pupils to question their gender”. The guidance could be stronger in this respect: offering parents the opportunity to see materials used in RSHE is not the same as a legal right to view it, and it’s not clear what head teachers should do if parents object.

What is obvious is that gender warriors are on the back foot, fighting on several fronts, but they’re not done yet. Scare tactics are all they have left, so we should expect more hyperbolic claims from activists who’ve been allowed to trample on other people’s rights for far too long.

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Joan Smith is a novelist and columnist. She was previously Chair of the Mayor of London’s Violence Against Women and Girls Board, and is on the advisory group for Sex Matters. Her book Unfortunately, She Was A Nymphomaniac: A New History of Rome’s Imperial Women was published in November 2024.

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