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Trans teen banned from exam reads teacher her rights
Transgender pupil in UK forced to cite Equality Act before school allowed her to sit GCSE paper
A transgender teenager banned from taking an exam unless she went home and changed into boys' clothing used UK equality laws to slam the school's bigoted headteacher.
Ashlyn Parram was told she wasn't allowed to take her first GCSE exam at Giles Academy, Boston, Lincolnshire, because she was wearing tights, skirt and a blazer, The Sun reported.
However, after refusing to go home and change into a boy's uniform, the 16-year-old went to the office of headtacher Chris Wall and showed him a copy of the Equality Act 2010, which protects transgender people from discrimination.
She was eventually allowed to sit the paper but was placed away from other students in the hall.
Ashlyn, who has been living openly as a girl at home for two years, told the British tabloid that she has 'never felt so bad about herself' and described how bullies at school spat and hit her in the past.
She said: 'It’s sad people can’t be more open-minded. I’ve lost a lot of friends because of everything I’ve been through. I really didn’t need to lose the support of my teachers.'
Ashlyn has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and is waiting to receive hormone therapy.
According to her mum Miranda, a senior teacher told her daughter that gender dysphoria didn't exist, while another imitated her walk in front of other pupils.
He blasted the school's treatment of Ashlyn as 'appalling' and 'disgusting'.
A school spokesman said: 'Giles Academy is an Ofsted Outstanding school in a caring environment with robust equalities policies. The governing body of the Academy rejects all the allegations.'
Anybody who has also experienced transphobic or homophobic discrimination at school, should contact education watchdog OFSTED here.
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Comments
gnostic wisdom teaches that the soul(or human spirit)has no gender.
why do we persecute each other with such petty brutality?why can we not live and let live?life is too short for such insensitivity especially to a child,a young person.
sometimes,too often we dont need a distant notion of hell.we make it for ourselves and each other in the here and now....
jim morrissons poetic expression in"riders on the storm"has an apppropriate ring-"into this world we are thrown!"
it breaks my heart that ashlynn might well now feel that she is not just"thrown into"the world,but that the world wants to"throw her away".its good that her family support her.i do too.
im the father of 2 daughters.and my wider family has been touched by"transgender"and other sexual identity issues.i am familiar with the petty brutality often handed out to those who are"different".ashlynns experience is one of the worst ive heard in a long time.
i hope she knows she is a full human being and is loved,as she clearly is.schools and teachers should know better.that schools policy is certainly brutally robust,but it is not about equality or diversity.
Is it possible for one of those Annual Mandatory Schools Inspections to include, within its remit, a Compulsory Added Inspection element which would investigate the current state of bullying, prejudice and fitness for purpose of all members of staff - not merely Academically - but to include suitability factors for dealing with those issues which usually involve pupils as victims of homophobic-related bullying plus the practice of such bullying by pupils and staff themselves?
Any educational establishment failing to commence effective corrective measures must be suffer serious sanctions, but if excused on grounds Religion (etc), then Charitable Status must be withdrawn unless/or until full correction is applied.
Maybe the TES (or equivalent) would publish ALL league tables so that schools still operating in the dark ages, can quickly be identified by interested parents and even prospective pupils.
How shamefull of this school But that is just it ! As a "Acadamey" they will be allowed to get away with this disgusting behaviour.
It is SHAMEFULL I would hope Ashlyn Parram can take some kind of leagal ation against both school and teachers?
Good luck