Family to sue UK school over boys wearing dresses

A family from the south coast of England are planning to take legal action against their six- year-old son's school for allowing one of his classmates to wear a dress to school.

Nigel Rowe, 44, and Sally, 42, have withdrawn their son from the school, who will now be schooled at home with his older eight-year-old brother, who had also been removed from the same Church of England school a year ago when his classmate also started wearing dresses.

"A child aged six would sometimes come to school as a girl or sometimes come to school as a boy. Our concerns were raised when our son came back home from school saying he was confused as to why and how a boy was now a girl," Nigel Rowe told The Sunday Times.
 

"We believe it is wrong to encourage very young children to embrace transgenderism. Boys are boys and girls are girls. Gender dysphoria is something we as Christians need to address with love and compassion, but not in the sphere of a primary school environment," he said.

The couple argues the school has acted without due regard to the best interests of their son or other pupils; failed to consult other parents; and has not respected their rights as parents to bring up their children with biblical values.

The school, which has not been named, said that it followed Church of England guidance, and said transgender children were protected under the Equality Act 2010.

It added that the local East Sussex County Council's guidance on transgender children set out that they should not be seen as a problem, but "as an opportunity to enrich the school community and to challenge gender stereotypes and norms on a wider scale".

Lawyers for the couple are expected to say the school is wrong to rely on the Equality Act because legal recognition of gender reassignment applies only to people over 18.

They will also argue the school is discriminating against the Rowes by implying that their wish to bring up their sons with biblical beliefs is transphobic.

The family is also being supported by the Christian Legal Centre and its chief, Andrea Williams, said, "this new transgender ideology is being aggressively imposed on unsuspecting schools, parents and children. It is delusional and abusive."

"School classrooms, which should be one of the safest environments for children, are rapidly becoming dangerous battlefields in a war brought on by a radical transgender ideology. Vulnerable children are being used as pawns and will be harmed the most. We need to call it what it is.