Trying to get a BBC journalist to listen

We are still really in the midst of all of it even after almost 5yrs. We were following a watchful waiting approach with our two children.

We initially comprised with allowing the name change. It was touted as pretty benign and there was never any mention of pronouns. A while back we tried to stop wrong pronouns when we found out they were being used but we weren't taken seriously. They did remove signposting to Mermaids, small victories. We had to go through a whole major process, contacting the local authority making a complaint through them and having meetings with the head teacher. It was and is very difficult and stressful. Recently we had taken a bit of a step back from the school but with recent personal developments and support from places like Our Duty and Bayswater, we have taken more steps to be absolutely sure they stop pronouns being affirmed. The CASS review was very clear that affirming is not benign. We have to help our children. No-one else will. We are their parents. We can't in good conscience and faith assist in them being pushed down the affirmation path, to testosterone, top surgery and things that could lead to life long medicalisation and untold misery.

The more I learnt about this gender ideology being taught in schools and online all over the internet like some kind of coordinated attack..the more worried I became. They were being taught through the RSHP that uncomfortable puberty feelings were because they were in the wrong body,( most girls are uncomfortable around that time and no one is born in the wrong body,) that there is a wee girl with a penis now and even though its a wee child for goodness sake, everyone's just OK with that now?? Then I find out about the 4000% increase in referrals to GIDS, of them 76% were girls and 48% of them had autism, my alarm bells started ringing as my eldest is ASD, middle awaiting diagnosis.

I was in a state of panic and was emailing the school a lot. My children were self harming and deeply unhappy and all of a sudden it was due to being trans. Out of nowhere. It started when eldest went to high school and was being exposed to gender ideology. Lockdown compounded it all. It was too much. For them. For us. It was and still is quite traumatic. I just would have thought such a supposed high prestigious well known school would, even after finding out about the problems with Tavistock and then Mermaids would continue to push such a faulty ideology. I have since come to realise that all the teaching advice guidelines that teachers get and say to affirm names and pronouns comes from the local authorites who told us their guidelines come from government guidelines, which is mainly made from advice from places like Stonewall and the now discredited mermaids, (oh and that one peadophile who wants MAP to be a thing. Dr Morrison. 🤮)

We now know after the investigations into Tavistock and then into Mermaids and Stonewall that none of this is benign and there are a lot of questionable adults involved in decisions about my children. It feels a bit like a dystopian safeguarding nightmare at times. The more I learn the more horrified I become.

It's so much bigger than we ever imagined and we often feel like we are the loony conspiracy parents but we are just normal parents trying to stop this sudden rollercoaster madness for our kids.

Written to Lorna@BBC 28th March 2023