Attorney general says schools do not have to accommodate transgender pupils

Schools do not have to accommodate transgender pupils by addressing them by their prefered pronouns or allowing them to use gender-appropriate toilets, the attorney general has said.

In an interview with The Times, cabinet minister Suella Braverman said that schools are under no legal obligation to allow transgender children to wear their preferred school uniform.

She also criticised schools for their “unquestioning approach” to gender reassignment, saying they should take a “much firmer line” when it came to making provisions for transgender students.

Ms Braverman also hailed Harry Potter author JK Rowling as her “heroine”, calling her “very brave, very courageous”.

Ms Braverman told The Times that, because under-18s can’t legally change gender, schools are entitled to continue to treat transgender children by the gender of their birth.

“A male child who says in a school that they are a trans girl, that they want to be female, is legally still a boy or a male. And schools have a right to treat them as such under the law. They don’t have to say, OK, we’re going to let you change your pronoun or let you wear a skirt or call yourself a girl’s name,” she said.

Ms Braverman said that the same should apply to non-binary children. She also said that girls’ toilets are protected spaces under the equalities act and schools should not allow trans children to use them.

Currently, only people who are 18 or over can apply for a gender recognition certificate, which legally recognises your change of gender.

The applicant also has to have lived as a trans woman or man for at least two years before applying.