Scottish school pupils taught 40 pronouns and encouraged to wear badges

Scottish school pupils have been encouraged to wear “pronoun badges” amid claims that activist groups are being allowed to push damaging transgender ideology in classrooms.

Teachers in Edinburgh, including in some primary schools, have been urged to celebrate “International Pronouns Day” and give lessons in which pupils are taught how harmful it is to assume a person uses he/him or she/her pronouns based on their appearance.

Instead, children are presented with an array of 40 terms including “neo-pronouns” such as “perself,” “xyr”, “vis” and “eirself” in teaching materials developed by the influential SNP government-funded charity LGBT Youth Scotland.

At the end of the lesson it is suggested that pupils “make name and pronoun badges to share”.

LGBT Youth Scotland has provided schools with pronoun name badge templates which it suggests can be displayed on school uniforms if a child feels comfortable doing so.

The charity also provides pronoun signs for teachers which are designed to be placed permanently outside their classroom doors, with hundreds of Scottish schools signed up for the charity’s charter scheme.

Stephen Kerr, the Tory MSP, will this week challenge the Scottish Government to overhaul schools guidance following publication of the Cass Report.

Spread harmful and unscientific propaganda

He warned that trans-rights zealots were being allowed to spread harmful and unscientific propaganda in Scottish schools with the celebration of pronouns day only the latest example.

“Rather than educate, some of Scotland’s schools are welcoming in political activists to indoctrinate children,” he said. “It needs to stop and those responsible for it need to be held to account.

“In years to come we will consider this to be what it is; child abuse by institutions that are there to protect and educate, not indoctrinate and confuse.”

Separate materials developed by the charity for Scottish teachers includes a lesson plan for International Women’s Day.

Sarah McBride, a transgender local politician in the US who began living as a woman in 2012, is suggested as one of six inspiring women for pupils to study.

In her landmark report, paediatrician Hilary Cass found that ideology had influenced healthcare for children with gender issues and urged caution in affirming a child’s self-declared gender, especially for the very young.

She also warned that social transition, meaning to allow children to change their names and pronouns, could make it more likely they would pursue medical treatments which can risk infertility and other complications.

Scottish Government school guidelines, which LGBT Youth Scotland helped to write, tell teachers that it is possible to come out as trans at any age and that they should be affirming if a child says they want to change gender.

International Pronouns Day, which takes place on the third Wednesday of every October, was invented in 2018 by trans-rights activists in the US.

A suggested lesson plan created by LGBT Youth Scotland suggests time can be spent on the pronunciation of “neo-pronouns” such as “xe, xem and xyr”.

A slide states: “As the pronouns he/him and she/her are commonly associated with a specific gender, using these to describe somebody could indicate you are assuming their gender identity based on their appearance.

“Making this assumption (even if correct) sends a potentially harmful message that people must look a certain way to be a specific gender.”

Guidance in the Equality Act

Edinburgh council, which previously funded its secondary schools to join the LGBT Youth Scotland charter scheme, promoted the pronoun teaching resources in a newsletter in 2022.

The funding arrangement, which saw the council pay the charity £130,680 over three years, ended in March 2024 and has not been renewed.

A spokesman for the council said: “We follow guidance set out in the Equality Act across all council business and value the importance of inclusivity, tolerance and respect for all individuals.

“We understand that different people hold different views and aim to work with our diverse community to respect and support one another. This is done in a variety of ways and has included working with LGBT Youth Scotland.”

An LGBT Youth Scotland spokesman said: “We share the Scottish Government’s ambition to create the best country for young LGBTQ+ people to grow up in.

“With increasingly toxic and polarised public debate, it’s vital that all young people feel safe, supported and included. Our LGBT Charter for Education is a key part of this – and the schools that engage us enrol in an extensively reviewed and tested programme ultimately designed to improve the lives and experiences of young people.”