Declaration for Biological Reality
We are a
group of concerned citizens from a wide range of backgrounds and professions.
We have very serious and growing concerns about the impact that gender identity
ideology is having on our society.
Over
recent years, there has been a demonstrable attack on biological reality in the
United Kingdom. This has skewed public policy and discourse in favour of an
ideology that has no scientific basis and which poses safeguarding risks to
some of the most vulnerable groups.
1. Child Protection
Gender
dysphoria is a recognised mental health condition and should be assessed and
treated through exploratory therapy. There are often co-morbidities to gender
dysphoria, including autism, body dysmorphia, trauma-induced illness, and
internalised homophobia.
Studies
show that most children experiencing gender dysphoria settle into their bodies
after puberty. By contrast, the prescription of so-called puberty blockers and
cross-sex hormones can cause irreversible developmental issues, physiological
damage (such as infertility and sexual dysfunction) and significant social and
relational harms. Contrary to arguments presented by proponents of gender
identity ideology, this has a significant, direct and lifelong impact on child
development, the true extent of which is not yet known.
There are
also growing numbers of 'detransitioners' who have been left physically and
emotionally scarred following decisions made in childhood or at a vulnerable
time, raising serious questions about the assessment of their capacity,
competency and ability to provide informed consent. Such safeguarding failures
and resultant harm are demonstrated by practices at the now-disgraced Tavistock
Clinic.
Furthermore,
children are being taught gender identity ideology at school, as if it were
fact, often to the exclusion or derision of biological reality. This includes
teaching children that it is possible to be born in the wrong body, thereby
encouraging vulnerable children to seek powerful medical treatment on
ideological, rather than scientific, grounds. This is at an age where their
ability to comprehend their future adult self is extremely limited or absent.
Many schools shirk their duty of care by enabling pupils to socially transition
in secret from their parents. This has a corrosive effect on children and their
families and denies them involvement in their child's care. It is also of
concern that teachers are making such decisions without any professional
training or expertise in the assessment of a complex mental health condition.
We implore that:
- Children should never be prescribed irreversible, experimental, and
highly damaging puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones (save for their use
in treating 'precocious puberty'). This applies to the NHS, registered
private clinics and online unregulated providers.
- Exploratory therapy for children with gender dysphoria should be
protected.
- No person should be compelled to affirm a child's desire to
transition.
- Schools should teach children biological reality - that sex is
binary and immutable, that nobody is born in the wrong body, and that
gender dysphoria is a mental health condition.
- Schools should never socially affirm a pupil or enable them to
socially transition.
2. Women's Rights
As a
direct consequence of gender identity ideology, we have witnessed an erosion of
the reality of what it means to be a woman.
Many
political leaders have said they believe that it is possible for a woman to
have a penis and have struggled to answer the simple question: 'What is a
Woman?'.
Gender
identity ideology seeks to reduce what it means to be a woman to a performative
or vulgar stereotype within the nebulous concept of identity, rather than
biological reality. Without any legislative underpinning, the word woman has
been removed from core policies and guidance, and terms like 'cervix haver',
'menstruator', and 'child bearer' are used instead. In a twist of irony, some
men who identify as female readily use the terms woman and mother; terms they
themselves deny to adult human females.
This
distortion of language risks endangering women, for example, those who may not
be properly notified of or do not come forward for certain health screenings.
Political campaigns have emerged (most notably in Scotland) which seek to
enable men to self- identify as women, allowing them unfettered access to
women's single-sex spaces. This has had a chilling effect on victims of
domestic abuse and enabled male predators to invade single-sex spaces for
nefarious purposes.
Finally,
women's competitive sport is being impacted. Men, with their inherent
physiological advantages, are often able to compete against and significantly
outperform women. This undermines the dreams, ambitions and achievements of
many women and risks destroying women's competitive sport entirely.
We implore that:
- The Equality Act 2010 (and all future related legislation and
official guidance) should make it clear that sex means biological sex.
- The Gender Recognition Act 2004 should be amended to clarify that
obtaining a gender recognition certificate does not change one's sex.
- Self-ID should never become law.
- Single-sex services, provisions and spaces should be protected and
preserved. These spaces include, but are not limited to, prisons, toilets,
changing rooms, hospital wards, refuges and shelters.
- Male athletes should never compete in women's sports and athletics.
3. Freedom of Speech and Public
Sector Neutrality
As a
consequence of gender identity ideology seeping into public policy via
organisations such as Stonewall, a significant number of people who maintain
the belief that biological reality is fact have been dismissed from their
employment, expelled from their studies, or had their characters smeared.
Conversely,
public bodies and public servants, with a duty to remain politically and
ideologically neutral, have improperly supported the tenets of gender identity
ideology.
We implore that:
- Biological reality should be explicitly protected. Nobody should be
reprimanded or sanctioned for holding such views.
- There should never be a requirement, legal or otherwise, to use
'preferred pronouns' or to acknowledge that 'someone has changed their
sex'. No one should ever be forced to state their 'preferred pronouns'.
- Public bodies should be free from symbolism and bias grounded in
gender identity ideology. Public sector workers and organisations
(particularly the police and NHS) should remain ideologically neutral and
not display ideological symbols on their uniforms, buildings or vehicles.
4. LGB Without The 'T'
The
conflation of sexual orientation and gender identity creates confusion and can
have serious consequences.
There
have been a significant number of cases in which children have been encouraged
to believe they are 'trapped in the wrong body', only for it to subsequently
materialise that they were experiencing same-sex attraction. Despite the need
for explorative therapy, this was not provided, and many now assert they were
pushed down an irreversible medical pathway.
Many LGB
people have been accused of 'transphobia' or 'bigotry' for being same sex
attracted, rather than attracted to another's 'self-identity'.
There has
been 'forced teaming' taking place, with LGB people persistently being told
that 'There is no LGB without the T'.
We implore that:
- The term 'LGB', referring exclusively to sexual orientation, should
be used as a distinct and separate category to gender identity.
- LGB people should have the right to assemble 'without the T', and
without being unjustly accused of transphobia in so doing.
