Girl, 18, 'driven out of school' for questioning transgender ideology

17 May 2022, 14:24 | Updated: 17 May 2022, 14:31

A female sixth form student has been "driven out" of her school after questioning transgender ideology.

The 18-year-old, who has not been named, was hounded by her peers after she argued biological gender is real during a debate following a speech on transphobia in parliament by a female member of the House of Lords in October.

The girl told The Times: "The language she was using was implying critical theory took precedence over biological reality in defining women.

"When I questioned that, she said it wasn’t an issue of semantics. She said trans people don’t have basic human rights in this country. Afterwards I spoke to her and said I’m sorry if I came across as rude."

The student said she and the politician, a Stonewall diversity champion, spoke after the speech and parted on good terms.

But she was harassed by 60 fellow pupils who shouted, screamed, swore and spat at her when she returned to the sixth form, according to the Times.

She eventually escaped from the group but collapsed panicked and hyperventilating.

The girl, who was bullied and accused of transphobia, left the school two months later in December 2021 after being forced by teachers to work from the library including spending break and lunchtimes there in case she said anything provocative.

Read more: 'Woke' uni slammed for telling females not to challenge trans people using 'wrong' toilets

Teachers at the school, which was not identified, were initially supportive of the girl but turned on her when a group of sixth-formers accused her of transphobia.

The student has maintained she never said anything transphobic and claimed teachers stopped being supportive because the accusations were made by a group of her peers.

Staff later apologised for failing to create a "safe space" for pupils at the sixth form.

The student said she had planned to take her A-Levels at the school but was forced to leave and study at home after the incident, which "made me think I was mad."

"Otherwise how could people turn on me so bitterly?", she said.

A teacher writing for Transgender Trend, said it was usual practice for the school to organise speeches on moral and ethical issues that were followed by question and answer sessions "during which the students could share their own feelings and opinions on the issues, and even disagree if they wanted to."

But he said students were in an "animated state" after the speech in question with a "significant group of girls verbally 'laying into' one particular 18-year-old who had had the audacity to question the position".

Read more: Sajid Javid 'to launch inquiry into gender treatment' as system is 'failing children'

The teacher said: "It was probably somewhat naive of her not to realise that this is indeed ‘an ideology’ and one with which you’re simply not allowed to disagree."

However, he described her departure from the school "quite chilling" and said it was shocking "to witness first hand how this ideology operates and grows.

He said: "It was the whispered and frequent use of the terms transphobe and transphobic during that after-school activity that alerted me to the depressing fact that these girls were going along with the narrative that our heretic was, as far as they were concerned, indeed a heretic — and that she was thoroughly deserving of the roasting that she had just received before caving in and running off in a panicked and hyperventilating state."

He added: "We know how these views are being silenced in the adult world through high-profile legal cases and the bullying and defamation of celebrities such as JK Rowling. This is also happening in schools."

Read more: Trans 'ideology' being 'pushed' in schools 'up and down the country', parents tell LBC