Anti-trans pressure group ‘sorry’ for transgender stickers
Stock image. (Pexels)
A group of parents in the UK has apologised for creating anti-transgender stickers, saying they could lead to bullying.
The group Transgender Trend produces resource packs for teachers and say they are concerned by the “current trend to diagnose ‘gender non-conforming’ children as transgender.”
The sticker sheet, which is downloadable, contains rhetoric such as: “Children confused about their sex usually grow out of it.”
Transgender Trend director Stephanie Davies-Arai has apologised on Twitter, saying the stickers will be removed from the group’s website because they may lead to children being targeted in schools.
Transgender youth face higher rates of harassment at school (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty)
“Although we obviously never intended our stickers to be used in schools, we understand people’s concerns that they could be used to create conflict between students,” she wrote, the Daily Mail reported.
“This is the last thing we want, so we have withdrawn the stickers from our site. We are sorry, we made a mistake.”
Earlier this year, Crowdfunder put a fundraiser launched by Transgender Trend back online, after it was rebuked by trans campaigners for being “transphobic” and previously suspended.
The page was suspended earlier this month because of an “unprecedented number of complaints.”
Trans rights campaigners had heavily criticised the fundraiser, which sought to raise money towards providing schools with hard copies of resource packs on the subject, describing it as “incredibly harmful” for children.
The group creates resource packs (Transgender Trend)
Speaking to PinkNews, a non-binary trans activist and filmmaker, said: “The guide is deeply transphobic and isn’t meant to support or help anyone at all. The fact that it is dressed up as a reliable resource for school is incredibly disingenuous and deceitful, as it isn’t based in research or factual evidence.
“It advocates against supporting trans kids, and is incredibly harmful and full of misinformation and misguided concerns.
“Trans kids experience high rates of bullying, self harm and suicide and a resource of this kind will only affect the lives of young trans kids negatively.”
The group’s website says Transgender Trend is not transphobic. It reads: “We believe that transgender people deserve the same civil and human rights as all of us and should not face discrimination.
“As the term ‘phobic’ literally means ‘irrational fear’ we want to make it very clear that we are not afraid of, or prejudiced against, transgender people in any way.”
