Blog
Keeping you up to date on the progress of the Named Person scheme and the NO2NP campaign.
EDINBURGH CITY COUNCIL’S COMMENTS ON TRANS CHILDREN REMIND US WHY WE FOUGHT THIS INSIDIOUS SCHEME
Posted 6 years ago
[FB picture credit: Andy Smith]
This blog has played host to diverse topics over the years.
We’ve seen colourful acronyms, songs, gardening analogies, and creepy cartoons, nobbling, bullying, puppeteers and parliamentary malpractice.
But this month we have a first – the Named Person scheme cited in relation to trans kids.
You may have seen the Daily Mail’s article on comments by the Children’s Commissioner concerning the age that children should be able to choose their gender.
This campaign is not involved with the ethics and particulars of changing gender. However, one paragraph in the article caught our eye:
“Edinburgh Council… said under-16s should be able to legally change their gender with parental consent. However if parents did not support the move, the child’s Named Person should be able to provide consent instead.”
We couldn’t believe what we saw. Could a major council seriously be suggesting that state snoopers be given the power to make life-changing decisions about children against the wishes of their parents?
Tragically, it seems that this is the case. NO2NP tracked down Edinburgh City Council’s submission to a Government review of the Gender Recognition Act 2004. In it, the Council’s Corporate Policy and Strategy Committee states:
“Perhaps it would be considered appropriate for the named person or lead professional to provide consent if transition is seen to be in the best interests of the child and where parental consent is unobtainable”.
Edinburgh Council’s chilling assertion reminds us of why we opposed this insidious legislation in the first place. The Named Person scheme threatened to hand over inalienable parental rights to an agent of the state.
It is frightening to think that Edinburgh Council, and perhaps other local authorities, see named persons as above parents.
Perhaps they’ve bought into the previous propaganda that all adults are gardeners but the named person is “Head Gardener”. How would this attitude feed into implementation of the scheme?
All of this only serves to demonstrate the urgent need for these plans to be consigned to the dustbin once and for all.