Is it hateful to say humans can't change sex?

This question is currently under scrutiny at the Human Rights Review Tribunal in Wellington, NZ.

If you haven’t heard of this important LAVA vs Wellington Pride case, which has been simmering since 2021, here is an explanation of what has happened so far. The crux of the dispute is that LAVA (Lesbian Action for Visibility Aotearoa) was excluded from a Pride event in Wellington in 2021 for holding the belief that men cannot become women.

The dispute has now reached the Human Rights Review Tribunal (HRRT) which is tasked with considering whether saying humans cannot change sex is a protected belief under the Human Rights Act or a view so hateful and harmful it does not warrant protection.

The first week of hearings took place in Wellington last week. First up were the two plaintiffs, Hilary Oxley and Margaret Curnow, who described the events around LAVA’s exclusion and were then cross-examined about why they believe men cannot be lesbians.

LAVA has reported here about the first week and Marg Curnow was interviewed about the case on RCR here.

Fern Hickson, who also believes that humans cannot change sex, was one of the witnesses on the fourth day of the hearing, representing Resist Gender Education. This is her summary of the experience.

The following is not a transcript, nor a complete or chronological report of the cross examination, but gives a taste of the testimony heard relating to education.

Who is credible?

Cross examination was carried out by Wellington Pride’s legal counsel, Victoria Casey KC, whose questions were intended to discredit my professional knowledge regarding gender identity ideology and to present my views against teaching it in schools as extremist.

In response to Ms Casey’s questions, I stated:

Humans cannot change sex.

I do not need to be an expert on gender dysphoria to know it is wrong to teach children that hating their bodies is normal.

Gender identity beliefs are based on sex stereotypes.

Children should have their unique personalities valued as the sex that they are.

Children have the right to go through a natural puberty and reach adulthood with their sexual and reproductive functions intact.

A later witness, Dr Kristopher Kaliebi, a psychiatrist from the University of South Florida, observed that those who support gender identity beliefs are unwilling to accept that anyone working outside a gender clinic has expertise in the field, thus denying most people the opportunity to offer any criticism.

Is gender identity real?

When asked whether I thought a transgender identity was real and how I felt about causing distress to people by opposing their ‘lived experience’, I answered:

Gender non-conformity is a normal variation of human behaviour but when it moves into body dysmorphia or body dissociation it becomes a psychological disorder that is recognised by the DSM5.

It is commonplace for teachers to treat children with respect and kindness without having to agree with everything they believe. For example, if a child was afraid of dogs, we would make accommodations for that child without teaching all the other children to also fear dogs.

I am an atheist and when I convey that to religious people they do not become distressed but understand that I am simply making a statement of fact that we hold different points of view.

The Counting Ourselves NZ survey of 1,100 trans and non-binary people was introduced and I was asked if I agreed with its conclusion that there is a negative impact on children if they are in a non-gender-accepting school environment. I agreed that:

Teachers should be kind and accepting of all kinds of diversity in children but always as the sex that they are.

Children should not be lied to that it is easy and exciting to change sex when the truth is any physical changes are the superficial effects of plastic surgery and drugs.

(Read about the many serious flaws in the Counting Ourselves survey here. )

Preferred pronouns

Asked about the use of preferred pronouns in schools, I said it was wrong to reinforce a false idea and that my belief that humans cannot change sex is supported by eminent biologists, Richard Dawkins, Robert Winston, and Colin Wright.

Pressed to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to preferred pronoun use in schools, I said “No, they are unworkable in schools” but was not permitted to elaborate.

If permitted to, I would have given these solid reasons for retaining correct-sex pronouns in schools, as discussed in our March 2024 Substack, When Kindness becomes cruelty:

• Humans cannot change sex. Asking children to use wrong-sex pronouns is teaching them that some humans can change sex.

• Children do not have freedom of choice in schools. When a teacher role-models using wrong-sex pronouns, children will be coerced to follow suit, no matter their personal beliefs.

• Using wrong-sex pronouns is extremely confusing and destabilising for new speakers of English and for children with intellectual disabilities or neurodiversity.

• Using wrong-sex pronouns gives subtle permission for children to enter spaces and sports that were reserved for the opposite sex.

• The concept of ‘misgendering’ provides a whole set of new bullying opportunities, and even censure in some schools, against those children who make mistakes in ‘preferred pronoun’ use.

• Children who have been routinely addressed with wrong-sex pronouns will find it harder to reclaim their correct sex, should they later resile from a transgender identity.

• Using wrong-sex pronouns in schools embeds an ideological view not shared by the majority. ‘Preferred pronouns’ and ‘misgendering’ should be excluded from schools, in the same way as other religious and ideological terminology is excluded.

RGE recognises that a policy to use standard English pronouns will go against the wishes of some parents who want their children to be addressed by wrong-sex pronouns, but it is a rational policy that does not privilege anybody and maintains schools as places that teach scientific fact and are free from ideology.

State indoctrination

There was discussion of the Ministry of Education requirement to consult the community about Relationships and Sexuality Education content, with the implication that current protections for parental consent are robust. I pointed to the Education Rewiew Office report last year that noted that the mandatory community consultation did not always take place. Feedback RGE receives from parents is that consultation is often peremptory and no more than a tick box exercise. Parents are also incorrecly told they can’t be shown the classroom resources for copyright reasons.

Ms Casey presented some online misinformation about RSE which I had not seen before and was able to discount, saying that there is also misinformation on the Ministry of Education website. (Although not asked to elaborate, I was referring to the MOE advice to schools that they might socially transition children and keep it secret from their parents.)

Asked whether I thought children are being indoctrinated by the state, I replied “Yes, through the Ministry of Education.”

Cultural contagion

Ms Casey questioned how much influence the RSE Guide had had on trans ideation, considering it had been introduced in 2020 and a sharp drop in puberty blocker prescriptions in NZ has been recorded from 2021 – as evidenced in the graph below, published in the NZ Medical Journal in September 2024.

I replied that the exponential growth in prescriptions shown in the graph was not caused solely by the RSE Guide, but that teaching children they can choose their sex, along with other cultural influences, was a factor in the recorded sudden rise in children seeking to block their puberty.

Gender ideology is right through our society: in picture books for pre-schoolers, in cartoons, on TV – everywhere in our culture.

RSE should be scientifically factual and age appropriate. Gender identity should not be taught as fact.

Schools should address gender identity beliefs by discussing them from a critical thinking perspective.

69% of people in a 2024 Curia poll do not want gender identity taught in schools.

A question from the panel clarified that puberty blocker prescription rates are only one part of the picture of transgender ideation because many adolescents only begin their opposite sex identification after they have already completed puberty.

Gender expansive or Gender affirming teaching?

Discussing the difference between ‘gender expansive’ and ‘gender affirming’ teaching, I said that I agreed with ‘gender expansive’ teaching if it means accepting each child’s unique personality, including those who are gender non-conformist. Sex stereotypes limit options for both boys and girls and should not be imposed on children to mould their behaviours into rigid gender roles.

But that is exactly what ‘gender affirming’ teaching does – it reinforces sex stereotypes and tells children that if they do not have the interests and personality that are stereotypically associated with their sex, then they must really be the opposite sex. I strongly reject the harmful concepts behind ‘gender affirming’ teaching.

Conclusion

The Tribunal panel was interested in potential consequences when professionals raise questions about gender ideology and I outlined the ostracism, career limitations, blacklisting, and possibility of de-registration that cause dissenters to stay quiet and has already resulted in harsh repercussions for some.

I asked the Tribunal to ensure that, in its deliberations and report, the words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are clearly and distinctly defined because a great deal of the conflict under examination is because of the confusion that has been created by these two words being routinely conflated and used imprecisely.

Further hearing dates

The LAVA vs Wellington Pride tribunal is open to the public and has three more weeks of hearings. LAVA’s final witnesses will be heard in the first week of September, followed by cross examination of Wellington Pride’s witnesses by LAVA’s legal counsel, Nicolette Levy KC.

1-5 September, 15-19 September, 6-10 October.

5th Floor, District Court, 49 Ballance St, Central Wellington