Badenoch claims that girls developed urinary tract infections due to the lack of separate toilets at school
Kemi Badenoch has claimed that girls at a school who did not have access to separate toilets developed urinary tract infections because they did not want to use gender-neutral toilets.
The Equality Secretary has launched a call for input, asking people to report government agencies that are failing to provide single-sex spaces, or have policies that do not comply with the Equalities Act.
She did not name the school or further substantiate the claim.
Citing an example of organizations allegedly failing to look at equality legislation, Badenoch told LBC on Wednesday: “If I were to give an example of a school with gender neutral toilets and young girls there, they didn’t want to use the same toilet goers as boys, which meant they didn’t go to the toilet at school and got urinary tract infections.
“This is clearly a terrible thing, but the school thought they were following the guidance because they had used policy analysis that came from an organization that did not look at the equality law.”
She claimed the government’s call for people to report institutions was not about “trying to get people out”, but that the government wants to “help people do better”.
The government’s equality office said businesses and other organizations could offer single-sex and single-sex services, including women-only toilets, changing rooms and fitness classes “which would help transgender people of the opposite biological sex who do not have a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) ruled out. )” and that in some cases those with such certificates could also be excluded.
But the minister claimed some organizations “feared a backlash if they were seen to be wrong”, with cases where organizations believe they are obliged to allow access to such services to self-identifying transgender people.
Badenoch rejected claims that asking for examples of incorrect guidance on single-sex spaces would lead to transphobic comments.
Asked if this would be a consequence of her call for examples, she told Sky News: “No, not at all, and it shouldn’t be.
“But this is one of the things that happens every time the government tries to bring clarity to this space. There is criticism that this is about transphobia and as we saw with the Cass review they are even preventing doctors from doing the right thing, causing a medical scandal.
“All we’re saying is if you think the guidance in your institution is wrong, please let us know and we can look at it, particularly public institutions, and then we can provide clarity.
“That’s not going to cause transphobic comments, this is sending an email saying here are the guidelines, here’s what’s wrong and then we can see if we can do something.”
Badenoch’s call comes after Health Secretary Victoria Atkins unveiled plans to review the NHS constitution to “ensure biological sex is respected”.
The changes will mean that patients in England will have the right to be treated in male and female wards, and transgender people will have their own room.
Government guidelines for how schools in England deal with transgender and young people require schools to maintain separate toilets and changing areas for each gender after the age of eight, allow staff and students to ignore pronouns where children are in social transition prefer, and for sports and gym activities to be segregated by gender if there are safety concerns.