Bullies shot an 11-year-old trans girl with a BB gun and defaced her exercise book with transphobic slurs, her mother has said.

The British girl, who goes to a Catholic school in Greater Manchester, was left in a state of shock after a week from hell.

We will not be naming the girl, the mother or the school to keep her anonymity and to prevent her from future harm.

Last Monday, G’s mother A was called into school following a ‘distressing’ incident.

Another child had scribbled ‘tranny’, ‘freak’, and drew pictures all over her exercise book for her art class. They also wrote ‘suck your mum’ and ‘your mum’s a slag’.

‘She didn’t know what the word “slag” means!’ her mother, A, told Gay Star News. ‘She was very upset by the tranny slur. That upset her extremely. I had to bring her home on Monday afternoon.’

The previous day, A said she had sent an email to staff about the escalating bullying. While she was bullied a little at primary, it got a lot worse when she joined secondary school. And she believes that email was ignored.

In the five months, A said G has been attacked several times.

11-year-old attacked several times

‘Pupils have thrown water over her, spat at her, and kicked her to the ground. Not a day goes by without her being attacked, insulted or threatened with violence,’ her mother said.

Two days after the art book incident, A said that without warning her daughter had been shot in the arm by a BB gun.

‘On the morning G was shot, they didn’t contact me immediately. I only found out an hour and a half after it happened and that was only by accident. I was already due to be at school to discuss an earlier incident,’ she told GSN.

‘When I arrived she was extremely quiet, just shaking and not speaking, it was awful.’

When she saw G, she was ‘stunned’. Police had not been called, and she had to do it herself.

‘What’s a kid doing with a BB gun in school?’

“What’s a kid doing with this in school?”

‘I told teachers something bad was going to happen. I warned them quite clearly. They weren’t acting.

‘I just kept thinking, “children have been killed by BB guns. What if it had been a knife or something else?” Since then, G hasn’t slept properly. She’s had nightmares. She’s really scared.’

A said that G is not someone who takes bullying lying down. One lunchtime, one bully went up to her and whispered in her ear they were going to ‘reveal’ her secret. In response, G shouted to the whole lunchroom ‘Hey, everyone, secret’s out! I’m transgender!’

But now it has gotten to a point where the 11-year-old girl has voiced suicidal thoughts.

‘She came home, and said she was fed up,’ A said. ‘She said she was going to jump off a bridge. We met with a council worker straight away. I have always said, when my daughter came out to me, my child will not be one of those who dies. She will be not one of those who kills themselves.’

While the family have considered switching schools, G is adamant.

Is the media to blame?

‘Why should she have to move? The bullies should have to move. That’s what it’s down to. Not at the cost of her life. But the school should still make it a safe environment.’

According to A, around December time in Year 7, the bullying was becoming less frequent.

But this month, the mother believes some newspapers and the condemned BBC documentary Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best? is to blame for ‘stirring’ up the transphobia again.

Because of the media, she believes, parents are encouraging their kids to hate.

Susie Green, CEO of Mermaids, which supports parents of transgender children, said: ‘Several parents have reported an escalation of abuse and language following the recent negative media coverage.

‘While we cannot be sure that one caused the other, it is a huge coincidence that these incidents closely follow damaging rhetoric that instead of supporting parents of trans children, seeks to undermine and vilify.

‘It is an incredible shame that children are being targeted in this manner – and the press and the BBC must take responsibility for their role in this.’