Originally Posted by
ORAC
That's actually the law.
Many children come from homes and backgrounds where being known to be gay or trans would lead to physical, let alone mental abuse. I personally know one trans girl who got thrown out of her home and ended up on the streets until a charity took her in - same thing happens to many others when they are "outed".
Parents don't own children and don't always know best. If a child shares such information in confidence the recipient, whether a teacher or a cadet instructor, is obliged not to inform anyone apart from the appropriately trained safeguarding officials in the chain of organisation. They are protected under both privacy and GDPR regulations.*
That's a very partial account, very much in line with the approach taken by gender lobbyists: asserting something as a self-evident truth with the aim of discouraging or deflecting challenge or dissent. This very subject was
in the news yesterday and it's very much *not* the law that children have an absolute right of confidentiality from their parents in these matters. The Government is to issue fresh guidance to schools after a think-tank used FOI requests to uncover the extent of confusion (let's be charitable and call it that) among secondary schools over disclosure. As I said above, we seem to be entirely reliant on the Press and other commentators to keep the likes of the education sector honest.
The Prime Minister says:
"These are really sensitive areas, it's important that we treat them sensitively, and that parents know what's going on, and we'll make sure that that happens."