Firefighters taught biological sex is ‘just a label’ and may ‘run along a spectrum’
Firefighters have been taught that sex is “just a label” and may run along a spectrum.
Training material for emergency service staff at West Sussex Fire and Rescue, seen by the Telegraph, shows that they have received instruction in “transgender & non-binary” inclusion.
A bitesize guide for staff at the fire service makes a series of claims, including a section asking “what is the gender binary?”, in which firefighters have been informed that “in white Western cultures, gender is seen as being an either/or choice, also known as a binary”.
The training material relates to best-practice for inclusion, and informs emergency service staff that gender is a set of behaviours, while “sex is the label we’re assigned by a doctor when we’re born”.
This label does not cover the “range of innate gender identities a person might have”, the material claims, adding that biological sex may also run along a spectrum.
It states: “In truth, our understanding of the amount of difference between bodies is only just emerging, and current research indicates that there is probably more of a physical spectrum of biological sex rather than the simple binary of male and female.”
The guide goes on to claim that scientific research “increasingly shows that everyone’s biology is complex and doesn’t fit a simple binary anyway”, adding that things like hormonal make-up, reproductive systems and sex chromosomes are “irrelevant to the gender they are”.
Along with these claims, the guide offers several caveats, warning people should respect the pronouns of trans people and apologise if they use them incorrectly and concludes saying “celebrate trans identity, community, and creativity”.
‘Evidence-free ideological position’
Helen Joyce, author of Trans and a director with the campaign group Sex Matters, has criticised the guide for what she says are “evidence-free” scientific claims.
“It’s infuriating to see public funds wasted on ‘training’ provided by obviously ignorant people,” she said. “Anyone who believes that ‘sex is the label we’re assigned by a doctor when we’re born’ or that it ‘doesn’t fit a simple binary’ needs some basic training in biology themselves.
“Telling employees to put pronouns in their email signatures and to avoid using the words he or she for other people until they too have declared their pronouns is both silly and sinister.
“It’s forcing an evidence-free ideological position on people who would be better off focusing on their jobs. That this nonsense is being peddled in an essential service like firefighting makes the story all the more depressing,” added Ms Joyce.
The material was compiled by Laura Mullins, the diversity and inclusion manager at West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, which is funded by West Sussex county council.
The content was put together with the help of material from the company Inclusive Employers, whose staff are self-described “experts on workplace inclusion”.
An introduction to the guide states that one of the aims of the fire service is to “empower and support people to be the best they can be, to deliver to the highest standards when serving our communities and to uphold the values of our fire and rescue service”.
The fire service has been approached for comment.
