Kellie Maloney: Schools should teach about transgender issues
Kellie Maloney has called for schools to teach about transgender issues as part of sex and relationship education.
The former boxing promoter was speaking after data revealed an upswing in the number of young people seeking treatment for gender dysphoria.
She told Sky News: “I don’t think there’s enough help and enough support – there’s only one gender clinic that deals with young people and it’s based in London – that has to serve the whole country. I think that is really overworked.
“I was three when I knew… at three I didn’t really know it was my gender issue. I didn’t know fully until I was 16 and read an article on April Ashley. I read it and thought god, this is me!”
She added: “The most important thing the Government can do is educate people.
“Bring it into the school curriculum so people understand it, teachers understand it, GPs understand it.”
“It doesn’t just affect you, it affects your family, if affects your friends, it affects everything.”
It comes after the Chair of Parliament’s Education Select Committee, Neil Carmichael, branded the government’s response to calls for inclusive sex and relationship education “feeble”.
Writing for PinkNews earlier this week, Mr Carmichael said: “When the Government refused to give statutory status to PSHE and rejected or brushed over all our other recommendations, I was at a loss to understand why it should have taken it so long for it to publish such a feeble response.
“It’s essential that momentum is now restored.”
Speaking at the PinkNews Awards earlier this month, Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities Nicky Morgan pledged to act on the issue.
She called for “high quality PSHE which better teaches young people understanding of sexual orientation and gender identity, and at the same time ensures that LGBT young people know how to avoid risks and stay safe”.
