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Without any mandate from the public our civic institutions are surrendering to a tiny band of zealots, who are bent on the subversion of humanity. Yesterday it was revealed that Altrincham Grammar for Girls, one of the country's most successful state schools, is to adopt so-called "gender neutral" language to avoid offence to pupils who are "questioning" their identity. In this linguistic exercise in social engineering, girls are now to be called "students" because, according to head teacher Stephanie Gill, "being misgendered can be very hurtful". Such words almost sound like a parody of politically correct dogma but tragically Altrincham's example is just part of a growing pattern of transgender madness. Before Christmas the National Association of Head Teacherssent out guidance which urged "gender neutral phrasing" for uniforms and called for the celebration of "trans people, issues and experiences within the school" to "ensure the visibility of trans perspectives". In the same vein the Scottish Government has proposed to let 12-year-olds change their legal gender, while the Lancashire NHS conducted a survey in 2017 asking 10-year-old children if they "feel comfortable in their gender".

The trans movement pretends to be progressive but it is the very opposite. Its entire doctrine smacks of cruelty, misogyny and bigotry. As the Altrincham case demonstrates it wants to airbrush women and girls out of the story. The same malignant, sexist impulse led the British Medical Association recently to seek the abolition of the phrase "expectant mothers" and the National Census to consider removing gender categories altogether. This kind of prejudice threatens to undo all the advances women have made towards equality. Trans supporters claim that they want to avoid "gender stereotypes" but they are the ones who uphold a twisted, superficial view of femininity. For them sexual identity is based not on biology but appearance and "feeling". That is why they are so drearily fixated on dresses and makeup as if such attributes define womanhood. It is also why we have the grotesque situation of men, still with male genitalia, who identify themselves as "women".


Famous people who are actually transgender Getty Images WireImage FilmMagic WireImage WireImage Getty Images FilmMagic WireImage

Trans misogyny is clearly illustrated in the masculine invasion of private women's spaces such as changing rooms, lavatories and refuges. The women's pond at Hampstead Heath has just been opened to transitioning men, a bizarre decision given that there is already a mixed pond at the site. One female swimmer rightly said: "I, and many others, am threatened by having to have cross dressers use our private space." The same is true of the move by some retailers such as Top Shop to open their female fitting rooms to all in the name of transgender equality. That is nothing more than a licence for perverts.


Transgender lunacy is also an existential threat to the integrity of women's sports. In a typically craven step the International Olympic Committee declared last year that men who identify as women should be allowed to compete in female categories, even without any surgery, as long as their testosterone is below a certain level.

Cindy Ord/Getty/Hannah Peters/Getty Transgender athletes Fallon Fox and Laurel Hubbard are ruining women's sport

One transgender, New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard, has taken advantage of relaxed regulations to dominate the competition in her field. Similarly transgender American martial arts fighter Fallon Fox, a former lorry driver, has proved brutal in the ring. "I've never felt so overpowered in my life and I am an abnormally strong female in my own right," said one of Fox's opponents, who suffered a broken orbital bone and had to have seven staples in her head after their brief, one-sided bout. That fight could almost be a metaphor for how the trans lobby is oppressing women. But the doctrinaires are also imposing their tyranny on children, remorselessly compelling them to question their identities and even embark on a medical life of surgery, therapy and drug dependency.

Michael Putland/Getty Transgenderism will prove to be a bigger scandal than Sir Jimmy Savile

Hysterical at the thought of youngsters smoking tobacco before the age of 18 the state machine, with spectacular hypocrisy, now encourages the same generation to consider plunging into the painful, traumatic experience of changing their identities. This official mania for trans indoctrination is responsible for the phenomenal increase in the number of children who are now bewildered about their gender. When the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock Clinic in London first opened it had just two cases. In 2016-17 it had more than 50 a week. The institutionalised acceptance of trans theory was highlighted by one mother, shocked when her 15-year-old daughter was referred to a specialist after a consultation of just 40 minutes.

GSV Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock Centre in London