A petition calling on the Church of England to scrap its transgender guidance for schools has been signed by 15,000 people.
It was delivered to Lambeth Palace the official residence of the church head, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
The petitioners want the church to drop its official policy aimed at stopping the bullying of LGBT children.
The guidance that’s officially named Valuing All God’s Children provides a framework for how Anglican schools should handle the issue.
Christian Concern which launched the petition claims the document says children as young as five should be affirmed if they want to identify as the opposite gender.
The Church has strongly denied that claim.
The petition calls the guidance “deeply damaging and wrong” and says that “trans-affirming guidelines have no place in Church of England schools”.
It’s being supported by Christian couple Nigel and Sally Rowe who withdrew their children from a Church of England primary school over its affirming approach to a transgender pupil.
They were told it would be ‘transphobic’ not to affirm the pupil’s transgenderism.
The government recently settled with the Rowes and agreed to pay their costs after the couple sought a legal review into the Education Department’s transgender policies.
The Rowes said: “The Church of England must urgently recognise the significant concerns that so many parents have about the dangers of transgender ideology in our schools.”
