Exclusive: More than 100 have complained about The Sun’s horrendous ‘trans classes’ front page
PinkNews Exclusive
The Sun has sparked more than 100 complaints with its front-page story about drag queens teaching children.
The headline read: “The skirt on the drag queen goes swish swish swish: trans classes for kids age 2″.
On Facebook, Drag Queen Story Time is described as a project trying to decrease anti-LGBT bullying by introducing children to ‘difference’ from a young age”.
“The hope is that kids grow up to be more understanding and accepting,” the group explains.
A Stonewall study earlier this year found that two-thirds of transgender schoolchildren are bullied – with nearly half of trans kids having attempted suicide.
And obviously, drag queens reading stories to children does not in any way constitute “trans classes”.
Despite Drag Queen Story Time’s admirable goal, The Sun wrote simply that “men in women’s clothes are teaching kids as young as two”.
The article also pointed out, scandalised, that these lessons are taking place “at seven Government-funded nurseries”.
It appeared in the paper as the Church of England was releasing guidance aimed at stopping transphobic bullying at schools.
The Church stated that “children should be at liberty to explore the possibilities of who they might be without judgement or derision.
“For example, a child may choose the tutu, princess’s tiara and heels and/or the fireman’s helmet, tool belt and superhero cloak without expectation or comment.”
26-year-old Drag Queen Story Time organiser Thomas Canham explained later in The Sun’s article: “We’re not aiming to pitch narratives, just introducing the concept of it existing.”
But for many, the damage had already been done.
116 complaints have been sent to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), including one from The Green Party.
The party’s LGBTIQA+ spokesperson Aimee Challenor said the coverage was “a sad mix of scaremongering, discrimination and inappropriate jokes about drag queens.
“On the same day the Church of England issues guidelines to help prevent transphobic bullying, it’s appalling that one of our national newspapers is perpetrating such harassment.”
“The rates of suicide and self-harm for young trans people are staggeringly high and it’s simply immoral for the Sun to feed into the prejudice towards them,” she continued.
“We should instead be welcoming the move to improve understanding and inclusivity by talking to children about gender fluidity from an early age.”
In the text of the complaint filed to IPSO, the party states that the article was “not only sensationalised but blatant scaremongering about the influence drag queens will have on toddlers.”
It continues: “When our national newspapers publish attacks on the LGBTIQA+ community they are fostering a wider climate of hostility, fear and aggression towards us.”
People have expressed their outrage at The Sun’s story.
