A government-backed “gender survey” was sent out to schoolchildren aged 13 upwards in Brighton last week, as part of research commissioned by Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner, and sponsored by the Department of Education. The research was begun at the Universities of Lancaster, Cardiff and Brighton.

The survey was very quickly withdrawn, either because of complaints from Brighton parents or, more likely, queries made to Anne Longfield’s office from the Daily Mail.

A spokesman said that the survey sent out was ‘a draft’ which had not been cleared, although Brighton & Hove City Council said it had forwarded the survey to secondary schools at the request of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. A new version is apparently being prepared with some of the original questions omitted, including the one above.

Although the original survey was taken down too quickly for us to see, another question, according to the Mail, asked whether teens felt ‘safe’ in single-sex toilets and whether they would prefer them to be unisex.

These two survey questions signify a lack of understanding of the distinction between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ from the authors themselves, as well as a clear agenda of promoting transgender theory and rights. A ‘gender survey’ which does not question the meaning of the word, in itself conditions teenagers into the idea that they need a ‘gender identity’ and that biological sex is just a part of this.

The ‘research’ results of this survey are likely to be very misleading as young teens will have no idea what some of these terms mean. Some teens will enjoy ticking numerous boxes as a joke and others will genuinely feel they ought to tick a few. More worrying is the introduction of terms which some teens may subsequently feel the need to research online, where they will potentially be introduced to the various trans forums urging them to transition if they feel in any way uncomfortable in their own sex.

We have written a letter to the Children’s Commissioner to outline our misgivings about this survey; you can read our full letter here. It includes the full address of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, so please do write your own letters of complaint and feel free to use our letter as a guide.

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