Transgender teddy bears used to ‘indoctrinate’ children aged 10
Transgender teddy bears have been used to “indoctrinate” 10-year-old schoolchildren, it has been claimed.
Footage of a class delivered to a primary school in St Albans, Hertfordshire, shows a teacher holding up a picture book titled Introducing a teddy to help explain transgender issues.
In the session for Year 6 pupils, a video of which has been seen by the Telegraph, the teacher narrates the moment in the picture book that “Thomas the teddy” comes out as a transgender girl.
“‘If I tell you’, said Thomas, ‘you might not be my friend anymore’,” the teacher tells the class of 10-year-olds.
“‘I’ll always be your friend Thomas’, [said his best friend Errol].
“Thomas the teddy took a deep breath – ‘I need to be myself Errol, in my heart I’ve always known that I’m a girl teddy not a boy teddy. I wish my name was Tilly not Thomas’.
“‘Oh, is that why you’ve been so sad’, Errol asked. ‘I don’t care if you’re a girl teddy or a boy teddy – what matters is that you are my friend’.”
The session was delivered through No Outsiders, a charity set up by Andrew Moffat MBE, a gay teacher at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham who faced protests at the school gates from Muslim parents demanding to “Get Mr Moffat out” for teaching pupils about same-sex relationships.
The teddy bear book is one of many used by No Outsiders, the Mail on Sunday reported, with the group’s free lesson plans used by hundreds of schools in areas such as Bristol and Watford.
In a promotional video from No Outsiders, a female primary school pupil said of the teddy bear story: “If you think children can’t handle hearing about that kind of stuff, then you’re not mature enough to understand that it’s okay and absolutely fine and there’s nothing wrong with it.”
Later on in the session at the St Albans primary school, the No Outsiders trainer asked the Year 6 class: “Who would like to clarify what does transgender mean?”
Many 10-year-olds put their hands up, with one responding that “you don’t have to say you’re a male or a female, you could say you’re a ‘they’”.
The class has been criticised by some campaigners. Lucy Marsh, from the Family Education Trust, a group that researches the causes and effects of family breakdown, told the Telegraph: “Teaching children that they could be ‘born in the wrong body’ is harmful indoctrination.
“Gender identity is a contested ideology that should never be taught as fact in schools.
“This ideology leads children down a path to social transition and potential irreversible medical intervention which can cause long-term health problems and infertility.”
Mr Moffat has said of the group’s aims: “As a teacher, we’ve got to find ways to prepare children for life in modern Britain where they are going to meet people who are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or have no faith, or have different families, sexualities, and can go out into the world confidently knowing they can live and work anywhere.
“This is a resource that helps schools and gives schools a framework to teach children that we are all different but actually, that’s fantastic.”
No Outsiders has been contacted for comment.