Givan defends his decision on withdrawal of guidance on gender for schools

Northern Ireland’s Education Minister has defended his decision to order the withdrawal of guidance around gender for schools.

Paul Givan confirmed on Monday that he has written to the Education Authority (EA) requesting the immediate withdrawal of its 2019 transgender guidance.

The guidance covers uniforms, naming, use of toilets and changing rooms, access to sports and admissions to single-sex schools, and advises that transgender people “have a gender identity which differs from that of their (assigned) birth sex”.

On Monday afternoon, it was no longer available on the EA’s website.

Mr Givan told the Assembly the guidance was “unlawful and flawed” following the ruling by the Supreme Court in April that the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.

However, the move has been criticised by trade unions for teachers.

The Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC) which represents the five recognised teacher unions in Northern Ireland, said it was a “retrograde step that jeopardises the safety and well-being of some of the most vulnerable young people in our schools”.

It has called on Mr Givan to reconsider the decision, and urged the EA further to “stand by their previous commitments on equality and reinstate the guidance today”.

Speaking during questions for his department in the Assembly on Monday, Mr Givan said he outlined in May his “clear position on behalf of the department in respect of these matters”.

“I do not believe that a boy who identifies as a girl should be participating in girls’ competitive sports, or that they should be using girls’ changing and toilet facilities,” he said.

“So this was an issue that when we had the UK Supreme Court ruling back in April it was clear that the equality legislation of 2010, the interpretation of male and female had to be based upon biological reality.

“When we look at the 1973 regulations when it comes to school premises, it says that schools have to provide toilet facilities for those above the age of six based upon being a boy and a girl, and the ordinary and natural meaning of that is around their biological reality.

“So the position is one that I believe is common sense. Yes, it absolutely requires sensitivity in navigating these issues, but the position that I have outlined back in May has now been affirmed in the legal opinion that I received.

“That underpinned the decisions taken for the Education Authority to immediately withdraw its unlawful and flawed guidance in this area.”

Mr Givan also criticised the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland for having “wrongly gone down the route of issuing pre-action protocol letters to over 60 public bodies, including the Department of Education in order to solicit what these public bodies’ views would be”.

“To then go to the High Court to seek some form of declaration to then help it inform itself as to how it will provide its own guidance,” he told MLAs.

“That approach is not the convention in terms of how we take decisions around policy, and then that can be challenged and refined by the courts.

“So it is highly irregular for the Equality Commission to act in the way that it has, is a waste of public funding of which the Equality Commission is in generous receipt of, and I have responded to that pre action protocol indicating it is a waste of public funding.

“It is also a waste of court time, who need to deal with serious issues and criminals that come before it rather than this speculative approach that has been adopted by the Equality Commission.”