Transgender guidelines in Western Cape Education Department — urgent call to action

By Pearl Kupe — Originally published in Joy! News

In a judgement handed out in March 2017 in the case of Mphela v Manamela and others (2016), case no 1/2016, Seshego Magistrates Court, the Equality Court in Limpopo, a transgender secondary student was represented by the South African Human Rights Commission.

In this matter the boy testified that he identified as a girl and was using the girls’ toilet facilities as a result. The Court ruled that the school must provide a “safe, protective, and stress free environment” for all learners.

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It is as a result of this case that the Western Cape Education department has now developed guidelines. According to the Western Education department, the purpose of the guidelines is “to sensitise all public schools and school communities to assist in creating an educational environment that does not discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including, gender, sex, sexual orientation, conscience, belief, culture and birth, among others”

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Included in the drafted guidelines, is a provision allowing an LGBTQI learner to use the toilets and changing facilities that they are most comfortable with.

The Public is invited to make comment before the June 19 2020 deadline. Please scan to see the guidelines referred to as well as a draft template that you can use as a guide to determine your response to the guidelines.The W/Cape government published draft guidelines on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation in Public Schools and invites public comment by 19 June 2020. Please email Adv Lynn Coleridge-Zils at Lynn.Coleridge-Zils@westerncape.gov.za

This case will set a precedent for schools in the whole of South Africa. If these guidelines are approved, the implications are far reaching in that, it means that biological males will be able to enter the toilet facilities and changing rooms of biological females.

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Please go to the ForSA (Freedom of Religion, South Africa) website for more information on this matter. Or read Sexual & Gender Ideology Indoctrination Escalates At SA Public Schools!

#WeShallNotBeSilent #BeAVoice

One Comment

  1. I urge you to watch in full , the documentary on Transgender people which is new on Netflix. It’s called “DISCLOSURE”. It will really open your eyes to what is really happening in the transgender community and how trans people are portrayed through film and other media related platforms. We need to see the bigger picture here.