You report Sue Saunders as saying that a specialist state school focusing on the needs of gay children is a crucial enterprise (LGBT school could open within three years, 16 January). You don’t have to be in denial about infantile sexuality to find the labelling of children as gay or straight etc questionable. Amelia Lee talks of LGBT children “struggling with their identities”. All thoughtful young people do this. Identity develops over time, and sexual exploration and eventual orientation are a part of that growth. But gender shouldn’t dictate or permeate identity. The idea that we have an essential core which is either masculine or feminine or bisexual or trans seems naively and depressingly limiting, and it intensifies the glorified role that gender already plays in our social and cultural life. Children should be taught not to be afraid. Bullies are sometimes those who have realised that their own sexuality is not “fixed”, and so they attack those who show what they themselves would like to hide. Let it be generally accepted in all schools that whatever you think you are is fine, and, just as important, if you feel different next term, that’s fine too.
Louise Summers
Oxford
