It's not okay for schools to let boys say they are girls

Schools do not have the right to give away the safety and fairness of their female students.

When schools bend over backwards to give boys who say they are girls whatever they desire, they are callously overlooking the dignity and rights of all their female students.

A case in point - Western Springs College, which has declared in a staff message last week that a “gentle korero” may be needed to bring students into line with its new policy of letting students choose their sports sex category.

Staff message Western Springs College

Were the parents consulted about this policy?

Were the girls asked if they consent to losing fair competition?

Will the boys who say they’re girls also be permitted to use the female changing rooms?

Western Springs College is discriminating against its female students by failing to protect their rights under the Human Rights Act, as explained in this extract from a letter to the school in reference to the above staff message:

Section 49 of the Human Rights Act states that exclusion of an individual from any sporting event is permitted where “strength, stamina, or physique of competitors is relevant“. How can the writer not know that WSC is responsible for ensuring sporting events will guarantee fair opportunities for females to reach their full (sporting) potential? I can see that WSC’s SchoolDocs policies are awash in promises to support all students to reach their full potential. All students except for girls competing in in-house sporting events it seems.

Open discussion sidelined

There is also an undemocratic and authoritarian flavour to this message. The letter to WSC continues:

The challenge for WSC school staff at this time is to openly discuss how the rights of girls/young women attending WSC will be upheld in cases where their authenticity, privacy or advantage could be compromised due to their sex-based difference. It is not good enough to assume that all teachers agree with the idea that young people can choose to change sex, or even that this might be possible. “Gentle korero” becomes authoritarian decree when open discussion about questionable ideas is stifled. This aspect of the extract is also of great concern.

Late to the party?

• Why has WSC introduced this policy in 2026, after similar policies have been abandoned internationally?

If the staff at Western Springs College would step outside their trans-preference bubble for a minute, they might notice that things have changed in the sporting world - sex is back as a protected category at the Olymics and Sports NZ has withdrawn its trans inclusion policy guidelines.

• Why has this policy been introduced now, when WSC knows that sports competition outside schools is based on “birth gender”? (They mean ‘sex’.)

WSC would be doing all its students a favour if it followed the lawful and fair practice of single-sex sports competitions. Girls would have their safety and dignity respected and restored. Boys would not be encouraged to think that their feelings entitle them to encroach on girls’ rights.

Male physical advantage

It’s nonsensical saying sex categories only matter in competitive or adult sport. The male physical advantages are present right from birth, as shown in this recent X post from evolutionary biologist, Colin Wright.

Stand up for your daughters

Western Springs College is not the only school persisting with discredited policies. Is your school also privileging male demands over fairness and safety for girls? Ask the principal, and if it is, stand up for your daughters’ right to have fair competition at school.

In the real world, the incoherent belief that humans can change sex is starting to lose traction.

• In New York State a detransitioner has been awarded $2million in damages for the permanent disfigurement caused by having her breasts amputated at the age of 16.

• The American Plastic Surgeon’s Association (ASPS) has announced a new position statement, which recommends “that surgeons delay gender-related breast/chest, genital, and facial surgery until a patient is at least 19 years old.”

• The American Medical Association has agreed with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.

To read the details, go to Gender Clinic News on Substack by Bernard Lane.

How you can help to discredit gender ideology:

• Write to your school principal and Board of Trustees to insist on single-sex spaces and sports for your daughters.

• Write to the chairperson of the WSC Board, Louise Gardiner - chair@wsc.school.nz

• Write to Mark Mitchell (Minister of Sport) and Winston Peters to object to the continued presence of males in female sports and changing rooms. mmitchell@ministers.govt.nz wpeters@ministers.govt.nz

• Tell your local MP that gender identity policies are an election issue that will influence your vote.

• Submit to the consultation about the new RSE Curriculum.

• Donate to Resist Gender Education to help us continue this work.

By Fern Hickson