The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby, is currently under pressure to eliminate the Church of England’s guidance on how to handle gender identity issues in the UK school system, as reported by The Telegraph.
The Church of England’s education office initially released the policy ‘Valuing All God’s Children’ in 2014, which aimed to combat homophobic bullying and create a safe environment for all students.
The guidance also emphasized that schools can make necessary adjustments to support transgender students without discriminating against others. However, Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowe have written a letter to Archbishop Welby, urging him to withdraw the guidance, claiming that it promotes an ideology that is inappropriate for primary schools and that children need clear rules based on factual information.
The Rowe family expressed their concerns in a letter, emphasizing that the majority of parents who choose a Church of England school for their children expect Christian principles to be upheld.
They urged for the immediate withdrawal of the official guidance, which they believe promotes a dangerous ideology.
The family shared an incident where their six-year-old son was told by a Church of England primary school that it would be considered ‘transphobic’ if he did not acknowledge a young boy’s desire to change genders.
With the support of the Christian Legal Center, the Rowe family took legal action against the British Education authorities after the government chose not to intervene. Eventually, in 2022, the UK government settled the case and committed to reviewing transgender policies in schools.
The Church of England responded to the Rowe family’s letter, stating that certain pressure groups had distorted the intentions of the Valuing All God’s Children advice.
They clarified that the guidance was not intended to provide support specifically for gender-questioning children and announced their plans to update the policy later this year.
