OFFRED exists to safeguard children and adolescents from the harm that they can endure when they are told falsehoods or presented with worldviews that are not based on facts.
In particular, we are concerned with schools promoting gender ideology – the idea that anyone, including children, can be transgender (i.e. have an identity not aligned with the reality of their sex).
A fact is an objective truth. It is a fact that there are two sexes in humans, male and female. Facts can be verified with empirical evidence.
Reality is the set of things that are real, genuine or natural. Reality excludes those things that are merely apparent, pretended or based on ideology.
Official Policies and Guidance
In the UK, education is a devolved matter, which means that each of our four countries has its own policies.
Guidance varies quite dramatically between each country, and each country can itself be given a rating. No country is rated ‘Good’.
Country ratings based on official guidance AND evidence of harm are (at the time of writing March 2022):
- England : HARMFUL complete adherence to the published guidelines would result in a rating of ADEQUATE
- Scotland : HARMFUL with no indication the government there desires to improve, in fact the contrary.
- Wales : HARMFUL with no indication the government there desires to improve.
- Northern Ireland : HARMFUL with no recent evidence indicating any improvement.
Full compliance with English law and guidance can lead to a school or institution being rated ADEQUATE, it would require the removal of ‘gender reassignment’ from the list of protected characteristics in the Equality Act before children can be afforded the protection that they need. This is because this characteristic can be used to attempt to justify special treatment for those who put themselves into that category. Of course, organisations can be creative in ensuring they comply with both the challenge inherent through the inclusion of ‘gender reassignment’ in the Equality Act AND with the upholding of Facts and Reality. We look forward to documenting such best practice s and when it is brought to our attention.
Focus on Outcomes
The acid tests for any policy or practice are:
- that no young person leaves an establishment disconnected from the reality of their sex.
- that no young person seeks medical treatment on the basis of ‘gender’
- that not young person is suffering mental anguish, self harm, or iatrogenic harm, that can be attributed to the policies of the institution