Five-year-old children asked their views on gender-neutral toilets in schools

The survey asks respondents if they would be comfortable using single-sex toilets – MONKEYBUSINESSIMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Primary pupils as young as five have been asked for their views on whether gender-neutral toilets should be installed in their schools, and if they would benefit trans people.

Aberdeenshire Council has published a survey on what toilets should be available in new or refurbished buildings, including schools, and has asked for feedback from pupils and teachers.

It asks them to choose one of a series of options about what schools should provide, including “separate toilets for males and females.”

However, it then has three options for unisex toilets, two of which involve getting rid of the existing male-only and female-only facilities.

The survey asks respondents how comfortable they would feel using single-sex toilets and whether they think they would have a positive or negative impact on people who are transgender.

They are also asked to specify whether they are a council employee, or a primary or secondary pupil, and if they identify as trans or “non-binary.”

‘Completely wrong’

The council said the survey had not been shared “directly” with primary pupils, although it is available on the local authority’s website. Instead, teachers had been asked to gather their pupils’ views and report back.

But campaigners said it was inappropriate for children to be surveyed on the issue, which has become a key battleground in the fierce debate over access to single-sex spaces.

Feminists have argued that gender-neutral facilities, shared by people with male and female genitalia, pose a risk to women’s safety. However, LGBT activists say they improve safety for those who identify as trans or non-binary.

Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters, an organisation that campaigns for clarity on sex in law, said it was “completely wrong to ask primary school children for their views.”

She said: “These spaces exist to keep children safe, and child safeguarding is the responsibility of adults, not children. It’s disgraceful to see adults abdicate responsibility by surveying children like this.

“No matter what the latest fashionable ideology says, there are two and only two sexes, and all children, except the very youngest, need and deserve toilets reserved for their sex that no one of the opposite sex can enter.

“This survey is both unnecessary and ideologically driven. The only use of the feedback from children will be to indicate the extent of gender-ideology indoctrination in Aberdeenshire’s schools.”

Girls ‘mortified’ by idea of sharing with boys

An Aberdeenshire teacher, speaking anonymously, said there was “zero appetite” for gender-neutral toilets in schools.

The teacher said: “Some of the girls have begun puberty and are mortified by the thought of sharing toilets with boys at this very sensitive time in their lives. There are some girls who have mostly gone through physical puberty by age 12 in primary 7, who use the toilets, too.”

The survey, which opened on Jan 18 and closed on Sunday, said the council wanted to develop a policy on toilet provision and asked about two types of unisex facilities.

One would be fully enclosed, with a toilet, sink and dryer all in a cubicle. Only the toilet would be enclosed in the second type, with washing facilities being shared.

The survey asked for views about whether each type should replace the existing male and female toilets, or be used in addition to them.

A spokesman for the council, which is run by a coalition of Tory, Liberal Democrat and independent councillors, said: “The purpose of the survey is to inform the development of a policy to guide the future development of provision in council buildings, as there is currently no policy in place.

“The survey that is available publicly has not been shared directly with primary school children. Teachers were instead invited to hold discussions in group settings about toilets for ‘boys’, ‘girls’, and that ‘anybody’ could use.”

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