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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Abigail O'Leary

School pupils given pronoun stickers to help transgender children

School pupils are being given pronoun stickers to help transgender children.

Children at schools in Brighton are being offered the stickers in a bid to prevent "misgendering", according to Brighton and Hove City Council.

The stickers will establish whether a child wishes to be called "he", "she", or "they".

Blank stickers are also being offered, allowing a child to choose their own pronoun.

In September, the University of Edinburgh launched a similar scheme in which students could wear badges to help show their identity.

Speaking about the latest moves in Brighton, Sophie Cook, trans rights campaigner, told The Argus : "The problem is that people look at one incident of misgendering and think it’s just one word.

“But it’s not just one word, it is that word ten times a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.

Transgender teenager's face sliced open by gang of youths in 'hate crime'  

“It has a cumulative effect which chips away at a person’s identity.”

Sophie explained how the act of misgendering involves referring to an individual, intentionally or unintentionally, by the wrong pronoun.

She added that in her opinion, the issue is a particular problem for children as they are going through a "difficult development period".

A city council spokesperson said: “The badges and stickers help raise awareness that you can’t assume someone’s gender identity and the pronouns they use.

"We know from a range of evidence that gender is more complicated than is traditionally recognised.

“We all define our own gender and we should respect other people’s identities and rights.

“We’re proud of being a diverse city, and the council is committed to equality and inclusion for all people, including our trans and non-binary residents.

"Our equality and inclusion strategy rightly supports those who are experiencing greatest disadvantage."

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