Debbie Hayton
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Transgender issues. I am trans and I cover the debate from a first person perspective.
Teacher & journalist; transsexual / Enseignant et journaliste; transsexuel.
My book / Mon livre 'Transsexual Apostate' is published by / est publié par Forum
Articles by Debbie Hayton
Labour’s conversion therapy bill is extremely dangerous
The Labour government has just announced plans to push forward with a ban on conversion therapy, apparently to protect LGBT+ people from harm. Its proposed bill is unnecessary, unwanted and unhelpful. Labour’s proposed bill is unnecessary, unwanted and unhelpful Maybe that is a fitting epitaph to Keir Starmer in the last days of his administration.
Why this trans person is troubled by a conversion therapy ban
Conversion practices are in the news again, at least if you listen to the BBC. We woke up to the Today programme on Friday recounting appalling stories of Electric Shock Aversion Therapy (ESAT) from years past. Further instalments were delivered on the corporation’s Six O’Clock News. Gay and lesbian people were subjected to those horrors in a futile attempt to change their sexual orientation. Outrageously, this happened within the beloved NHS.
A four-day week won’t save teachers from burnout
Campaigners have urged Bridget Phillipson to give teachers in England and Wales a day out of school every week with no loss of pay. The 4 Day Week Foundation believes that shorter working weeks can reduce burnout, improve productivity and support better work-life balance. What’s not to like about that? Quite a lot, actually. The aim is not to introduce three-day weekends but allow teachers to work from home one day in every five.
Why are we testing puberty blockers on children again?
Puberty blockers are powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks. Those were not my words, they came from a by Dr Hilary Cass when this off-label use of injectable gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists was indefinitely last December. Streeting needs to change tack. For the children, if not his own reputation However, there was a loophole.
There’s no easy way to manage single-sex spaces
Transgender people could be banned from single-sex spaces based on how they are perceived by other people according to the Times. The newspaper reports seeing a copy of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s transgender guidance that was handed to ministers in early September. The EHRC was never going to please both sides of what has become an impassioned debate. Now it seems that they have come up with a code of practice that will please neither.
Where’s the money for Labour’s triple science plan?
Science, which has been kicked about since GCSEs replaced O-Levels in 1986, is in for another shake-up. The latest review of the curriculum – commissioned by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson – is set to recommend that all schools must teach separate sciences to children in Years 10 and 11. That should be a good thing. ‘Triple science’ won’t be mandatory, but it will become a statutory entitlement alongside the usual diet of ‘double science’.
School teachers should not be allowed to work from home
Teacher recruitment and retention have been associated with the word ‘crisis’ since I joined the profession thirty years ago. But Daniel Kebede’s idea to give teachers a day each week to work and ‘mark from home’ is not the answer. Kebede is the general secretary of the National Education Union. His job is to speak up for his members – many of whom, like me, work very long hours. According to the Department for Education, full-time teachers put in an average of 52.4 hours per week during term time.
Why is the YHA allowing males to stay in women’s dorms?
On April 16, the Supreme Court ruled that the meaning of the terms ‘sex’, ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the Equality Act refer to biology. More than three months later, you might think that the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) – an organisation that provides single sex dormitories in hostels across England and Wales – would have reviewed their policies to ensure that they were consistent with the law.
ITV’s Transaction is painfully unfunny
The plot of Transaction, a six-part comedy currently showing on ITV2, is simple. A supermarket accused of transphobia hires a transgender night shift worker to protect themselves from an activist mob hammering on the doors. The problem for manager Simon (played by Nick Frost) is that he employs a transwoman on a mission to be outrageous, vulgar and crude, and to lecture the audience on trans rights. Promoted as humour, there’s a big problem: it just isn’t funny.
No, British trans people aren’t at risk of ‘genocide’
The Supreme Court judgment on the definition of a woman on 16 April restored a degree of sanity to a world that was in danger of going mad. Even Keir Starmer now knows that a woman is a matter of biology rather than ideology. Can somebody please tell the Americans? Or, more precisely, those progressive types over the pond who like to concern themselves with other people’s business.
No, British trans people aren't at risk of 'genocide'
Text size Small Medium Large Line Spacing Compact Normal Spacious Comments The Supreme Court judgment on the definition of a woman on 16 April restored a degree of sanity to a world that was in danger of going mad. Even Keir Starmer now knows that a woman is a matter of biology rather than ideology. Can somebody please tell the Americans? Or, more precisely, those progressive types over the pond who like to concern themselves with other people’s business.
Bristol museum’s trans exhibition is like something out of a cult
The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery is one of those places that makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel picked-on even visiting the website. At the top of the screen – before any mention of the collections and exhibitions – we are all told that ‘Bristol Museums welcomes trans and gender-diverse visitors, volunteers and members of staff’. Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app The weekly edition on the Spectator Australia app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
The tyranny of GCSEs
Deep within the workings of an electric motor lies a split-ring commutator. It reverses the current flowing through the coil every half rotation so that the force on the coil also reverses as it spins between a pair of opposing magnetic poles. If ever it was necessary to recall such esoteric minutiae, the time is now – if you are 16 years old and facing the prospect of GCSE exams, that is.
The truth about trans rights in Britain
The Supreme Court judgement on sex and gender was a welcome return to common sense. As far as the Equality Act is concerned, even Keir Starmer now knows that a woman is a biological female and a man is a biological male. The task of producing new – and legally compliant – guidance for employers and service providers falls on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Starmer’s words about ‘trans women’ are too little, too late
When will Keir Starmer finally show some leadership over the most fundamental distinction in human society: the difference between men and women? The Prime Minister’s silence after the Supreme Court judgement last week had been deafening. The ruling – which stated that sex is binary – brought clarity and restored sanity; it’s a pity the same could not be said about the PM’s thinking when it comes to defining what a woman is.
This legal definition of ‘woman’ has restored sanity to the law
The UK Supreme Court has ruled that a woman is someone whose sex is female. The judgment, handed down this morning by Lord Hodge, sought to establish coherence in an area of law that has become the focus of an emotional, and sometimes heated debate. For that we should all be grateful. Delivery of the weekly magazine Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
What happened to the Birmingham I love?
My beloved Birmingham, the city I called home for 26 years and where my children grew up, is drowning in a sea of black bin bags. It’s a shocking sight to see this once proud city, that was arguably the centre of the industrial revolution, in such a state. Thousands of tonnes of rubbish is piling up, rats are everywhere – and the stench is dreadful. Delivery of the weekly magazine Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
How the NHS gave up on recording biological sex
If data is worth collecting, then surely it is worth collecting properly. As a scientist I’d argue that unreliable data is worse than no data at all. At least if there is nothing recorded, then there is nothing to mislead. On one of the most basic categories of all – sex – it seems that official records are all over the place. Delivery of the weekly magazine Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
Why isn’t Streeting cracking down on puberty blockers?
If a government’s first duty is to protect its citizens, then Wes Streeting must step up to defend some of society’s most vulnerable. Instead, the Health Secretary is reportedly refusing to intervene over NHS plans to test puberty blockers on children. Nearly £11 million has been allocated to experiment with drugs that may prevent children’s bones from developing normally.
The legacy of Covid will stay with children for life
Five years ago in March 2020, schools fell silent as Covid-19 swept across the world. At first, there was a tinge of excitement among some students and staff; it was as if, perhaps, we had been told that the whole country was going to be snowed in for six weeks. Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app The weekly edition on the Spectator Australia app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
In defence of Connie Shaw
Here is a philosophical question for our universities to ponder. Should the ‘D’ in ‘EDI’ extend to diversity of opinion? If it doesn’t, this acronym so beloved of HR departments and external ‘training providers’ shouldn’t be worth the candle. But heaven help anyone who speaks the truth about sex and gender within some places of education. Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app The weekly edition on the Spectator Australia app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
Why did Children in Need fund a charity linked to a paedophile scandal?
Last week the BBC announced that the 2024 Children in Need appeal had raised more than £39 million for charity. With such large sums of money, comes great responsibility – which charities are worthy of funding, and which ones should be kept at the end of the proverbial bargepole? This week, Rosie Millard has resigned as chair of Children in Need, she says, because of an ‘institutional failure’ that led to almost £500,000 being paid out to LGBT Youth Scotland (LGBTYS).
Parents should be worried about Labour’s trans plans
Keir Starmer’s new Office for Equality and Opportunity – launched earlier this month – purports to ensure that ‘equality is at the heart of every mission’. The terrifying reality might be something rather different. One key immediate priority is a ‘full, trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices’. The government has said, ‘Conversion practices are abuse.
The truth about Led By Donkeys
Love them or loathe them, it’s hard not to have noticed Led By Donkeys. The protest group – made up, naturally, of four former Greenpeace workers – has taunted Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and David Cameron with its high-profile stunts. It is best known for projecting its protests – including one branding Boris a ‘liar’ – on to the Houses of Parliament.
The trouble with Trafalgar Square’s transgender tribute
Seven hundred and twenty-six plaster face casts of transsexual, non-binary or gender non-conforming people were unveiled yesterday in London’s Trafalgar Square. Mil Veces un Instante (A thousand times an Instant) by Mexican artist, Teresa Margolles, sits proudly upon the Fourth Plinth around Nelson’s Column.
What has the SNP got against school blazers?
The much-maligned school blazer has come under attack once again, this time by Scottish government. In new guidance issued this morning, head teachers north of the border have been told to either ditch them, or make them optional within their uniform policies. Head teachers who know their pupils rather better than first minister John Swinney and his meddling SNP ministers have been entrusted to ‘be clear that these are not needed or expected’.
Why are a record number of Brits applying to change their gender?
The number of people applying for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) has reached a new record. Government figures revealed that there were 1,397 applications in 2023-24 and, of those, 1,088 were granted. Labour has vowed to simplify the process of changing gender, meaning that the numbers could rise further. Almost 200 applicants for a Gender Recognition Certificate were under 25 Is this something to celebrate? Or should we be worried?
The New York Times questions the Cass review
Hilary Cass’s review of gender identity services for children and young people put a stop to doctors playing fast and loose with the development of youngsters in Great Britain. Her report was welcomed on both sides of the Commons, and it was reassuring to hear Wes Streeting confirm that he intends to uphold the ban on puberty blockers to under-18s.
Should the NHS really be spending money on child gender clinics?
The Tavistock’s notorious Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic in London – which prescribed puberty blockers to children – closed in March. Two replacement clinics have already opened in London and Liverpool. NHS England has now confirmed they will be joined by six more, starting with Bristol this coming autumn and a centre for the East of England by March 2025.
The simple way to protect women’s sport at the Olympics
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) needs to find some far better answers to the transgender question if it is to restore its credibility in eyes of those who care about women’s sport. We might not have the spectacle of Laurel Hubbard – the transgender weightlifter who displaced a woman from the last games in Tokyo – but the debate is far from settled.
Inside Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress
Today Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first world leader to address a joint session of Congress four times, surpassing the previous record jointly held by him and Winston Churchill. And the anti-Israel protesters, not unlike the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, drastically inflated their numbers ahead of Wednesday’s proceedings.
Trouble in paradise: thousands of Disneyland employees threaten strike
Some 14,000 cast members at Disneyland in California voted by an overwhelming 99 percent to authorize a on Monday; however, a coalition of union members reached a tentative agreement with Disneyland Tuesday, mainly revolving around wage increases. The coalition, titled Disney Workers Rising, will open a vote on the agreement at Disneyland for employees on July 29.
An end to Israel is the only ‘de-escalation’ the pro-Palestine crowd wants
Everywhere you turn in conversations about Israel, Gaza, Jews and antisemitism right now, the long-promised specter of expansion and escalation is… well… escalating. More than nine months into Israel’s war with Hamas, the rhetoric of conflict and activism has escalated into violent confrontations on the battlefields of war, politics and protest.
The media’s flip to Harris was predictable
This time last week, America’s media was excruciatingly examining Joe Biden’s current health condition and fading campaign to Donald Trump, with leaks coming from White House and campaign Zoom calls. George Clooney, after hosting a Biden fundraiser, called for Biden to withdraw in the pages of the New York Times. Reports of a mysterious Covid diagnosis followed.
Elon Musk and the dangers of the transgender phenomenon
Elon Musk is the richest person in the world but it’s clear that money can’t always buy happiness. The X/Twitter owner spoke movingly of his family, in particular his eldest surviving child, during an emotional interview with Jordan Peterson. “My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus,” the father-of-twelve lamented.
What Elon Musk gets right about the plight of trans kids
Elon Musk is the richest person in the world but it’s clear that money can’t always buy happiness. The X/ Twitter owner spoke movingly of his family, in particular his eldest surviving child, during an emotional interview with Jordan Peterson. ‘My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus’, the father-of-12 lamented. Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app The weekly edition on the Spectator Australia app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
Will Anneliese Dodds finally see sense on trans rights?
The waiting is over. Anneliese Dodds has been named as minister of state for women and equalities, and will attend cabinet as part of her role. Meanwhile, Bridget Phillipson will be the official minister, tied into her Secretary of State for Education brief. It’s not the courageous change that some were hoping for: Dodds was equalities shadow to Kemi Badenoch in the previous parliament.
How Keir Starmer can make it up to Rosie Duffield
Congratulations to Rosie Duffield, who has won re-election for a third time as Labour MP for Canterbury. For many women – and men, indeed – Duffield’s courageous stance on sex and gender has been a beacon of sense, and a reason to vote Labour. She increased her majority from 1,800 to almost 9,000, an astonishing success in a county where she had previously been the sole Labour MP.
Why Labour keeps floundering on the trans toilet question
Labour politicians who cannot give straight answers on sex and gender will need to get their thinking caps on, assuming they find themselves in charge on Friday morning. The ‘what is a woman?’ question was just the start. The debate that has now moved on to toilets – and Labour needs to come up with some answers and fast. Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app The weekly edition on the Spectator Australia app Spectator podcasts and newsletters Full access to spectator.co.uk Or
Labour’s dreadful gender recognition reforms
Is Keir Starmer trying to snatch an unlikely defeat from the jaws of victory, or is he so confident of winning that he thinks he can ignore sense and reason – certainly on the issue of sex and gender? When the Labour party manifesto dropped a couple of weeks ago, it included a pledge to ‘modernise, simplify, and reform the intrusive and outdated gender recognition law to a new process’.
JK Rowling’s accusations will hurt Starmer
Perhaps JK Rowling should be the leader of the opposition. She describes herself as ‘left leaning’, she has a huge following, and she also knows what a woman is. Writing in the Times this morning, Rowling defends her friend Rosie Duffield – the Labour candidate for Canterbury – following the appalling abuse she has suffered both in the past and during the current election campaign: Last month, a man received a suspended prison sentence for sending both of us death threats.
Labour’s dangerous pledge to ban conversion therapy
An incoming Labour government will enact legislation that could prevent gender-questioning children getting the help they need to come to terms with their biological sex.
JK Rowling and the toxicity of social media pile-ons
Alex Kay-Jelski is the latest individual to realise that the internet never forgets and, when it suddenly remembers, the impact can be spectacular – and not in a good way. Kay-Jelski is the ‘soon-to-be Director of BBC Sport’ according to his account on X (formerly Twitter). But that’s as much as a casual observer will find out; the account is protected, presumably because of an all-to-familiar pile-on.
The significance of J.K. Rowling’s defence of Kemi Badenoch
The opinion polls might be projecting a massive Labour majority, but there is a dynamic to this election that could yet derail Keir Starmer’s plans for government. Yesterday, J.K. Rowling spoke for many women when she fired off a volley of tweets on sex and gender. Her frustration was palpable, but also notable was her defence of Kemi Badenoch.
Sunak’s gender attack will hurt Labour
If the country has not had enough sex by now, it may have by the election. Political sex, that is – Rishi Sunak has clearly spotted an opportunity for a fully frontal attack on one of Labour’s weak spots. This morning, the Prime Minister promised that if re-elected, his government would rewrite the Equality Act to make it clear that sex means biological sex.
Why the Tories’ national service idea is unworkable
When the Tories start talking about national service they really are grasping at straws. The concept might possibly appeal to some older voters nostalgic for an earlier time, but Rishi Sunak’s ideas are quite different from the military conscription of young men that lasted from 1949 to 1963. Let’s put aside the 30,000 or so ‘selective’ military placements for the ‘brightest and the best’.
The crisis in the NHS’s adult gender clinics
Hilary Cass’s review of children’s gender services revealed how young people are being badly let down by the NHS. The picture for adults awaiting treatment in NHS gender clinics is similarly bleak: the current system is broken – and thousands of people are stuck in limbo.
Labour’s gender change shake-up will end in tears
Anyone who thought the downfall of the Tory government might bring an end to the interminable debate over transgender rights should scrutinise Labour’s plans. It could be that the past seven years of political manoeuvrings was merely the warm-up act. This is delusion on a grand scale Labour reportedly wants to ‘simplify’ the gender recognition process – but this isn’t necessarily a good thing.
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