Local Authority SEEN has been in discussion with other Sex Equality and Equity Networks (SEENs) across the country and – whilst all of us share similar concerns, regardless of our sector of work – for those of us in public sector SEENs, the necessity of impartiality and balance is a recurring theme.
As public servants, we should all work in line with the Nolan Principles (the Seven Principles of Public Life) which require of us:
- Selflessness
- Integrity
- Objectivity
- Accountability
- Openness
- Honesty
- Leadership
Yet every day we see colleagues failing to have regard for those vital principles. Many of us think that the principle of objectivity is probably the most-frequently compromised of the Nolan Principles. Senior managers often appear to make decisions based on their own preferences and biases, rather than using the best evidence to make decisions on merit. In the pre-election period, as we now are, councils should be especially mindful of their duty to objectivity.
The increasing prevalence of Progress Pride flags being flown each June from public buildings, including council offices and other properties, can almost be seen as a microcosm of this problem. If council officers all paid proper attention to the Nolan Principles, stuck to the rules, and were objective, then councils would default to flying the classic six-stripe rainbow flag when marking Pride. This flag is explicitly permitted by national government (section B in this guide, which helpfully links to the relevant pages on the government legislation website). But councils don’t always stick to these rules, so we see council buildings across the country flying the Progress Pride flag instead. However, the Progress Pride flag is a non-standard flag, so it’s not automatically permitted under the guidelines. It can only be flown if express consent has been given by the local planning authority – i.e. the council itself!
What does this mean in practice? Should councils be making planning applications to their own planning departments if they want to fly the Progress Pride flag in June? Well … yes. The rules are very clear. You can’t fly it without permission simply because it’s not in one of the categories of flag that doesn’t require permission – therefore permission should be sought. It’s crucial for councils to follow the proper planning process for anything non-standard, because that’s the way that members of the public and other stakeholders would have the ability to formally object if they wished.
Why would people object to the Progress Pride flag? Well, for one thing, there’s nothing wrong with the classic six-stripe flag, the rainbow being intended to represent everyone. The Progress Pride flag incorporates additional stripes – wrongly implying that the classic six-stripe rainbow did not include everyone – and a symbol supposed to delineate “intersex” conditions (although most people who have such conditions actually prefer to refer to them as differences of sexual development, or DSDs).
The inclusion of the trans colours in the Progress Pride flag is our main cause for concern about objectivity and use of best evidence in decision-making. There’s ongoing debate about the concept of gender identity – and considerable dispute about its adverse impacts on particular groups of people. Many people have expressed well-evidenced concerns about the impact of gender identity on spaces and services that were previously understood to be important to provide on a single-sex basis for reasons of dignity and safety. This will be the topic of a future blog from us, local authorities having responsibilities across a wide range of such spaces and services.
Particularly for children and adolescents, the experimental nature of medical interventions for gender identity, and the absence of a solid evidence base for such interventions, has been investigated extensively and recently reported on by Dr Hilary Cass and an expert team of researchers. The Cass Report, the in-depth review of gender identity interventions for children, resulted in cessation of prescribing experimental treatments for children. This was necessary not least because of the almost exponential increase in referrals to gender identity clinics in recent years.
The largest proportion of increased gender identity referrals has been girls who have conditions such as autism or ADHD, or who have experienced trauma, who are same-sex attracted. In fact, children and teenagers who would normally grow up to be gay or lesbian, and especially those who are traumatised or also have symptoms of autism and/or ADHD, appear to have always been overrepresented in gender identity clinic referrals. This – and the lack of proper evidence to support any assertion that medicalisation is the best possible option for these children – should be cause for concern for anyone who cares about safeguarding vulnerable children.
Along with these developments, we also see increasing numbers of detransitioners – people who were led to believe they should have medical interventions for gender identity issues, and who have been left with lifelong harms caused by medicalisation. It is striking that the NHS, despite being prepared to perform radical interventions to further gender transitions, has manifestly failed to provide any services to support detransitioners, despite the vast harms they are left to live with. There are some emerging legal cases in respect of this issue, although full hearings are some way off yet, and of course any subsequent judgments will take time.
With all this to consider, is it really objective, impartial, fair – or indeed using the best evidence – for councils to promote the disputed concept of gender identity through flying the Progress Pride flag? Local Authority SEEN do not believe so. We believe that if councils choose to fly the Progress Pride flag, and particularly where they have not followed the proper planning process to do so, they are not acting in line with their duty of objectivity.
If you work for a local authority and want to be part of the Sex Equality and Equity Network (SEEN) movement within councils, please get in touch through our contact form. If you work in another field and want to be part of the SEEN movement, please find your SEEN!