LGBTQ charity urges education on trans rights in primary schools

BeLonG To have expressed disappointed at the Catholic Primary School Management Association's (CPSMA) call to refuse to educate children about transgender issues in primary schools.

BeLonG To is an organisation that fights for LGBTQ+ rights and supports queer youth in Ireland. Meanwhile, the CPSMA believes (falsely) that teaching transgender issues to primary school students is unnecessary since it "would require to teach something about which there is neither a scientific nor social consensus to highly impressionable young children".

In an interview with Newstalk's Breakfast Briefing, Moninne Griffith, CEO of BeLonG To, stated that children as young as six or seven years old begin to recognise that they are LGBTQ+.

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Ms Griffith was concerned about children's safety since transgender education can help transgender children "feel safe and included in their school."

"We know from research that 12 is the most common age for a young person to know they are LGBT, but I know from talking to teachers and parents all over the country that there are young people as young as six and seven who know they are LGBT – mostly maybe trans," she said.

"It is a small number but what is the harm in making sure that they feel safe and included in their school?"

Ms Griffith's disappointment was compounded by the CPSMA's letter.

"We are working with post-primary catholic schools all over the country who are doing amazing work to ensure that all their students, including LGBT students, feel safe and supported in school."