September 2023
Newsletter
Pronoun Policing
As reported in our August newsletter, many schools are currently reviewing and confirming their ‘Inclusive Education’ policies, often in tandem with SchoolDocs, a private company that provides template policies to schools. On 8 September, RGE wrote to SchoolDocs to ask it to reconsider its ‘Inclusive Education’ policy but we have yet to receive a reply.
Mellons Bay Primary school, in east Auckland, is one school that has recently confirmed that its SchoolDocs-initiated policy is to use the “preferred name and pronouns of students.”
A parent asked, “Will students who don’t comply with pronoun preferences be disciplined?” and the school replied, “Behaviours that exclude or aim to hurt or depreciate someone would be addressed.”
The parent turned to the Free Speech Union, which wrote to the school on 21 September “to express our concern at what would amount to a violation of the students’ right to free expression, as protected by the Bill of Rights Act. We would be bound to take action against such a violation.”
We all await the school’s response with interest.
In this Plain Sight opinion piece a NZ teacher makes a plea for free speech to be upheld and says, “I will not comply with compelled speech ordinances. I care too much about students – of every stripe – to stay silent on this matter.”
Social transitioning - a misstep
In Canada, the Gender Dysphoria Alliance, an organisation led by transsexual adults, is to appear in a court case in support of a new policy in Saskatchewan that prohibits schools from socially transitioning children without parental knowledge. In a statement the Alliance said, “The social transition of children and adolescents (changing names and pronouns) without clinical or parental oversight is one such misstep, however well-meaning these actions may be.”
Also in Canada, Ontario’s education minister has pledged to ensure that parents are fully involved if their child wants to be known by different pronouns.
“We have to respect the rights of parents and recognize that these can be life-changing decisions, and I think parents want to be involved so that they can support their kids. And I think that's a really important principle that we must uphold.” (Ontario’s education minister.)
In California, a federal court has issued a preliminary injunction preventing a school district from forcing teachers to lie to parents about a child’s gender identity and/or preferred pronouns.
… And in the UK, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has admitted that its advice about socially transitioning pupils in the 2014 Technical Guidance for Schools was wrong and has issued new guidance which says (p60) “Sex segregation is permitted in certain situations, such as where it is necessary and appropriate to preserve privacy and decency. The law requires schools to provide single sex toilet facilities for children over eight and single sex changing facilities for children over 11. These may be either in sex-segregated communal facilities or in single-user lockable rooms.”
The guidance also confirms (p89) that “Sex is understood as binary - being male or female - with a person’s legal sex being determined by what is recorded on their birth certificate, based on biological sex.” (In the UK those under 18 cannot obtain a gender recognition Certificate.)
For further reading about the misstep of social transitioning, go to our webpage “Social transitioning is not a good idea” and the articles on Transgender Trend’s website.
Unteach the Overreach
Many parents participated in various ways in the international Unteach the Overreach protest day on September 14 and felt better for having taken some action for the benefit of children.
The day culminated in a Zoom presentation followed by a Q&A session. If you missed the presentation, it is available on YouTube here.
UTO is an international initiative that is to become a monthly event to give parents a variety of easy protest activities to participate in, without having to withdraw children from school.
The next UTO is on Thursday October 12. On this day, please either ask your school about its ‘Inclusive Education’ policy and provide feedback, or investigate the school toilet facilities (see below).
Our Unteach the Overreach facebook page will remain active and is a good place to go for more ideas and contributions. This Genspect post also contains many useful suggestions for action.
Unisex school toilets are not compulsory
MOE policy when refurbishing or building new school toilets is to make them all gender neutral. This means that each cubicle has full height walls and its own washbasin. We have written before about the unintended consequences of this design, especially for very young children who may be afraid of being locked in a small space, and for girls who reportedly are routinely having to clean boys’ urine from the toilet seat before they can use it.
However, although the MOE strongly recommends this style of toilet, we have learned it is not compulsory for them to be labelled as unisex.
The MOE guidelines (p5) say that schools can “allocate the use of toilets acknowledging gender balance, student age, and cultural considerations.” This means that toilet blocks can still be labelled as single sex as long as there is also an easily accessible unisex toilet.
The little school that could
Parent groups opposing the RSE curriculum are continuing to spring up all across the country, with meetings held in the past month in Wanaka, Queenstown, and Warkworth, and one coming up in Silverdale on October 12.
Many groups have been inspired by the recent accomplishment of one small North Island school community that has successfully kept gender ideology out of its curriculum.
A group of concerned parents and grandparents joined forces over several weeks to attend a BOT meeting, hold a community information meeting, respond to a school survey, and organise a petition. The final positive outcome was a decision by the school to retain its current Health and PE programme and that “gender and sexuality content should be taught at home”.
Advice on how to approach a BOT to talk about RSE is on the RGE website here. Although Boards are not required to allow community members to speak at meetings, in most instances they will allocate them a short time. When speaking, it is important to be well-prepared, to have reputable evidence at your fingertips, and to try to remain calm.
Resist Gender Education has made a submission to the United Nations Periodic Review about the infiltration of gender ideology into our schools and the resultant human rights breaches for children, parents, and teachers.
Meetings and Marches
Lower Hutt
Speak up for Women and Resist Gender Edcuation held a public meeting to discuss RSE in Lower Hutt on 12 September, attended by about 40 people. Despite threats from trans extremists that caused the first venue to cancel the booking, a new venue was found and not a single protester turned up.
Let Women Speak
An uplifting afternoon was enjoyed by about 300 supporters of women’s rights and child safety at the Let Women Speak NZ Justice event in Auckland on 20th September. This rally coincided with court arguments on the tomato juice thrower case and was held despite Kellie-Jay Keen pulling out due to safety concerns. In the event, there was a strong police presence and they did an excellent job of keeping us safe from trans activists who tried for half an hour to force their way through police lines.
For two hours, women spoke passionately about the loss of their rights to gender ideology and their concerns for its impacts on children. Tania Sturt, one of the organisers, said, “I think it's amazing today - I thank all the men and women who have come out in support. We have a lot to say and I am so glad we have finally had our chance."
PS. The juice-thrower’s lawyer asked the judge to dismiss the assault charges and the judge has reserved her decision until October 26.
March of a Million
In cities across Canada on September 20, thousands of people participated in the 1MillionMarch4children to protest against gender identity teaching in schools. “Gender identity is deeply unpopular with the public and this is the first time that divide of public opinion has been put on display,” said one commentator.
In an eerie repetition of the thugs’ veto at Albert Park in March, the protest in Vancouver was shut down in the middle of Megan Murphy’s speech after extremists attempted to storm the stage and the police determined it was too dangerous to continue.
A similar “Stop the War on Children” rally is planned for the United States on 21 October.
Children Cannot Consent
A protest organised by Mana Wahine Korero will be held at Parliament on 31 October from 11.30am to 1pm.
New on our website
Helen Joyce speaks with Sean Plunket on the Platform.
The full episode of the Gender Agenda from Australia’s Channel 7 is now available on YouTube.
https://www.resistgendereducation.nz/information/videos%2C-interviews-and-podcasts
Sonia Sodha argues in the Observer for comprehensive government guidance on transgender issues for schools in the UK.
A worrying increase in sexual assaults in NZ schools and the inadequate response from government agencies are discussed by Carol Anderson and Leo Donnelly in this Post article.
https://www.resistgendereducation.nz/information/updates
Robert Hoogland, the Canadian father jailed and fined $30,000 for trying to save his child from gender medicalisation and “misgendering” her, has won his appeal and has been released from prison with the fine rescinded.
https://www.resistgendereducation.nz/information/news-
How is it considered to be "validating language" (as per the poster at the end of this article) when so many groups are now totally invalidated? Like for example, women (who are now "parents" or reduced to labeled body parts or bodily functions)? The purpose of mammalian puberty is to prepare for the adult function of reproduction, but now that sex itself is invalidated, where does that leave us? No wonder mental health distress is growing exponentially when this sort of crap is promoted as the only way forward. Truly, this way lies madness.
what a useful collection of information. thank you.