PULSE POINTS:

❓What Happened: The Care Inspectorate in Scotland has issued new guidance directing children’s home managers to use “gender-inclusive language” to avoid offending transgenders. Staff are advised not to refer to residents as “boys” or “girls” and to use gender-neutral terms to ensure inclusivity.

👥 Who’s Involved: The Care Inspectorate provided the guidance. It impacts staff at children’s homes across Scotland.

📍 Where & When: This guidance applies to children’s homes in Scotland and was released by the regional government last week.

💬 Key Quote: A spokesman from the Care Inspectorate stated, “Every day, the staff of these services must, and do, find ways of helping all young people to feel supported, loved, valued, and respected.”

⚠️ Impact: The Scottish government agency contends the guidance aims to create a more inclusive environment for all young residents. However, critics contend the language policy only affirms false perceptions caused by mental health issues.

IN FULL:

The Care Inspectorate in Scotland has issued new guidance directing children’s homes to adopt “gender-inclusive” language to ensure all residents feel respected and valued. According to the latest guidelines, children’s home staff should avoid calling residents “boys” or “girls” and encourage language that does not risk offending transgender patients.

Officials for Scotland’s devolved government—roughly equivalent to a U.S. state government—claim the move follows requests from child services seeking assistance in accommodating the needs of young people who identify as transgender or non-binary. The instructions indicate that phrases like “come on, boys and girls” no longer align with recommended practices for supporting LGBTQ individuals.

A representative from the Care Inspectorate explained, “Every day, the staff of these services must, and do, find ways of helping all young people to feel supported, loved, valued and respected.” The guidance states that staff should “try to create an environment that feels safe to explore identity and enables young people to change their mind in the future if they wish to do so.”

The Care Inspectorate guidance comes just months after the British central government, now led by the leftist Labour Party, decided to maintain the previous Conservative government’s ban on prescribing puberty-blocking drugs to minors in England. Announcing the move last December, Health Secretary Wes Streeting emphasized the lack of evidence for the safety of child gender transitions: “Children’s health care must always be evidence-led. The independent expert Commission on Human Medicines found that the current prescribing and care pathway for gender dysphoria and incongruence presents an unacceptable safety risk for children and young people.”

Increasingly, medical studies are finding that so-called “gender-affirming” treatments do not reduce the demand for mental health services, indicating that the procedures fail to address underlying psychological issues associated with transgenderism.

Image by Quinn Dombrowski.