The Schools Outsourcing Gender Ideology to Stay Within the Law

behind parents backs

This post examines how some schools are using external LGBTQ organisations to deliver content that teachers are themselves prohibited from teaching, and what happens when that arrangement is used to override parental consent.

The latest Department of Education RSHE guidance told schools not to teach children that gender ideology is a fact, but rather a contested belief:

“The contested theory of gender identity will not be taught and the guidance confirms copyright law should not be a barrier to sharing curriculum materials with parents – with the updated curriculum open for an eight week consultation from today (16 May).”

This does not sit well with gender activists, like Steve Duffy of Harris Academy Sutton, an openly gay teacher and a Stonewall Champion. The law says teachers are not allowed to tell children this, but the law does not stop a school from inviting someone from outside to tell children this. Effectively, this offshores the task to a third party and gives teachers a degree of plausible deniability. The school remains legally responsible, but blame becomes harder to attribute when the words came from an outside organisation rather than the teacher directly.

This is where LGBTQ organisations come into play, such as Stonewall, Gender Intelligence, and Free2B. Jill Foster’s investigation for the Telegraph covers Gender Intelligence’s reach across schools, the NHS and sport in detail, including running events for “trans children” where attendees ranged in age from eight to 25, and delivering training in primary schools that critics say lacks adequate safeguarding protocols.

Free2B is a less well-known organisation, yet it is well funded and deeply embedded in the children’s services of two London boroughs: Wandsworth and Sutton. Two Free2B board directors are Mark Holliday and Andrea McDermott, both employed by Wandsworth children’s services. The relationship with Sutton is less visible, though the founder of Free2B, Lucie Brooke, is a director of a not-for-profit business offering SEND services for children, registered from within Sutton Civic Centre. Some Free2B workers are employed by Sutton, such as Zariyan Syed, a trans man who recently raised funds for breast removal surgery.

Sutton is one of the most pro LGBT boroughs in London. Senior figures include the director of Children Services Jonathan William and the head of IRO, LADO, Foster Care and recruitment Michael Radley, both from the LGBTQ community.

Although the Free2B website says LGBT, their materials and their work focus mostly on trans people, mainly children, much like Mermaids.

The Free2B volunteer page says: “We welcome applications from LGBTQ+ individuals as well as allies. To best reflect our current membership we are particularly keen to receive applications from transfemme individuals.”

The most concerning part is the showering guide for children which advises:

1. Bathe in the dark

2. Cover the mirror

3. Use a washcloth

4. Bathe with parts of your clothes on

5. Bathe in exercise clothes

The guide is dangerous on multiple levels. Practically, walking in a dark bathroom risks injury. But the deeper concern is what it teaches children about their own bodies: to hide from mirrors, to bathe in darkness, to keep themselves covered even while washing. That is not hygiene advice. It encourages children to dissociate from and conceal their bodies, a pattern more commonly associated with psychological harm than with safeguarding.

The washing guide is not the only concern. Free2B runs The Gap, a weekly LGBTQ youth club in Clapham Junction, open to young people aged 13 to 19, extended to 25 for those with disabilities. The club distributes free condoms at sessions. Mixing 13-year-olds with young adults up to age 25 in a sexualised context, where condoms are handed out, raises serious questions about safeguarding that the school should have considered before referring any child to Free2B programmes.

Back to Harris Academy Sutton and their Designated Safeguarding Lead. I came across a family whose child was placed in the Free2B programme without consulting the family. When the parents found out and objected, the school retrospectively sought consent, which the parents refused. The DSL went ahead anyway and enrolled the child without the parents’ knowledge. The Stonewall Champion teacher went further and tried to get the child to attend Free2B venues at Katherine Low Settlement by Clapham Junction, all without the parents’ knowledge and despite an explicit refusal of consent.

Enrolling a child in an external programme after parents have explicitly refused consent is a breach of parental rights and a serious failure of safeguarding procedure. The DSL role exists to protect children, not to advance an ideology that serves the teacher’s own lifestyle and political interests.