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Victorian schools are making life-altering decisions about children’s gender identities in secret, sparking outrage from parents and medical and legal experts.
The Victorian government cannot say how many children in the state’s schools have been enabled to socially transition their gender without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
State Education Department documents show it is departmental policy for teachers and other school staff to use the concept of “mature minor” consent to enable children to socially transition in instances where their parents are deemed unsupportive.
The situation has sparked vehement criticism from distressed parents and eminent medical and legal experts, prompting a psychiatric specialist in gender dysphoria to warn there is no scientific consensus that social transition improves mental health and wellbeing outcomes, and clear evidence that it leads many young people toward medical transition, with associated irreversible harms, such as the loss of fertility and sexual function.
Not only are there no guidelines in the departmental policy regarding what constitutes an “unsupportive” parent, there is also no requirement for staff to document or account for this life-altering decision, nor for them to consult medical practitioners.
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