Is the tide turning on gender ideology?

News

At times it can feel like things go from bad to worse on LGBT and gender ideology.

For instance, last month it emerged that the British Red Cross is the latest organisation to issue a ‘woke’ language guide, telling employees to avoid using terms like “ladies and gentleman”, “biological male” and “maiden name” because they are “not inclusive”.

The guidance also reportedly asserted that a trans woman is “a woman” and people should be allowed to choose whether to use male or female toilets and changing facilities. Staff are asked to say “women, girls and people who menstruate” rather than “solely referring to women” and to use “gender-neutral titles”.

This comes amidst news that a record number of people applied to change their legal sex last year, with 1,397 applications in 2023-24 (of which 1,088 were granted), up threefold from 466 bids in 2020-21. Worse, the Government has pledged to make the process easier.

But look a little deeper and it is clear that the tide is turning on gender ideology.

For instance, it has emerged that Stonewall is ending its controversial schools training programme for new applicants, the SNP Health Minister said the Scottish Government had accepted the Cass review and would implement its recommendations, and the Good Law Project announced it would no longer take trans-related legal cases following a string of defeats.

A few weeks ago the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, said he would uphold the emergency ban on privately accessed puberty blockers for under-18s.

It’s been a summer of retreat for the trans lobby, and the fact the Labour Party is also moving in this direction is “huge”, notes Kathleen Stock.

The persistence of nonsense at the Red Cross shows there is still much to be done to counter the pernicious trends. But there’s no doubt that in the bigger picture the forces of common sense are pushing back firmly against the forces of harmful gender ideology.

A society that loses sight of the difference between men and women is one that loses sight of a crucial part of what it means to be human. No wonder so many bad things flow out of this basic folly, impacting all of us from the youngest to the oldest. At C4M we know that gender differences are central to real marriage because they are central to humanity. We are pleased to see gender ideology being pushed back, and look forward to this happening more and more in the years ahead.