Behind the Flags

Following publication of our recent article, in which we discussed the meaning and purpose of progress pride flags on display at primary schools around Ireland, several people have been in touch to let us know that they believe the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation is responsible for the flags. In fact, they say the INTO has a dedicated pride flag campaign and goes so far as to supply the flags to primary schools.

The INTO

The INTO is the oldest and largest teachers’ trade union in Ireland, representing primary school teachers in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It advocates for the rights, pay, and working conditions of its members, and plays a role in shaping education policy. It engages in collective bargaining, provides professional support, and campaigns on issues relating to education and teachers’ welfare. The union is also active in promoting equality and professional development within the teaching profession. The INTO does play a role in some issues affecting students, for example, it advocates for better classroom conditions, smaller class sizes, and better school funding, but its primary role is to represent and support teachers.

What Do the Flags Mean?

The original pride or rainbow flag (above) that most of us recognise is a bold and joyful symbol of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community worldwide – a global emblem of pride and solidarity that’s been around since 1978.

Enter the progress pride flag – a very different thing (below) – in 2018. Alongside the rainbow, you’ll now find baby blue, baby pink, and white stripes to represent those who identify as transgender or nonbinary. It also has brown stripes to represent people of colour, and black to represent those lost to HIV/AIDS and those living with HIV. It’s less a flag, more a patchwork quilt of political priorities all stitched together under the ever-expanding umbrella of inclusion.

By flying this flag, the school is signalling its allegiance to gender identity ideology or trans ideology. This is the idea that boy/girl, man/woman – or something else entirely – is determined by how you feel rather than by your actual biology. It’s the belief that it’s possible to be born in the wrong body, and when that happens, it’s possible to transition to the opposite sex. It is a belief, just like a religious belief, with no basis in fact.

The progress pride flag lets everybody know that the school will affirm trans identities – girls who think they are boys or vice versa – despite all evidence to suggest that this is a dangerous approach. And there is no shortage of evidence – the Cass Review, an independent assessment of gender identity services for children and young people in the UK, raised serious concerns about the “affirmative” approach to treating gender-related distress. This approach, where a child’s self-declared gender identity is accepted and affirmed, was found to risk overlooking complex mental health, developmental, or social issues that might underlie the distress.

Questions Abound

It needs to be asked:

• Why would a worker’s union representing teachers be pushing this dangerous ideology to children in primary schools and their families?
• Is this really the function of the union?
• Did INTO members have a say in the decision to do this? Are they aware that this is what their membership fees are funding?
• Does the Department of Education support the flying of these flags on school property?

Further, who is behind the drive to embed trans ideology in children’s lives via primary school? Is it the teachers – the members of the INTO? Is it the parents? Or could it be coming from within the INTO leadership or staff?

Taking Advantage

The Assistant General Secretaries of the INTO are senior full-time officials who play an operational and advisory role within the union’s leadership structure. David Geary, Assistant General Secretary/ Director of Communications, is responsible for the overall communications strategy for the organisation. This doesn’t seem like it would have much to do with LGBT+ inclusion, and yet, according to Involve, a global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultancy and membership network:

“Head of Communications for the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, the oldest and largest education trade union in Ireland, David uses his position to ensure that primary schools are safe spaces for LGBT+ workers and pupils alike. David led a variety of Pride-related activities for the Union, including the rebranding of the Union’s logo and a campaign elevating the voices of LGBT+ teachers, which garnered national media attention. David actively supports LGBT+ members in promoting inclusion more broadly across the union and its members. David also held the role of Head of Political Engagement for Pride in London from 2013 – 2018 and garnered cross-party support for the event, participating in the first raising of the Pride flag over the Houses of Parliament. David has also hosted pop-up educational workshops in parliament, local councils, and even in the European Parliament.”

This is not to say that Mr Geary is responsible for the flag campaign, but to demonstrate that staff – teachers or others involved with the education system – might use their privileged and powerful position to promote contested ideologies to primary school children.

Indoctrination Dressed Up as Inclusion

This is not about LGB acceptance and inclusion. Of course, homophobia still exists, but anecdotally, teachers who are LGB are not experiencing it at work and are going about their professional duties just like everybody else. Ireland is a tolerant and progressive country with equal rights for everybody – gay, straight, bisexual – for a decade now.

It is about some adults taking every opportunity to push and normalise an ideology that has no basis in science, evidence, or fact. Trans ideology hurts children. Leading children to believe that it is possible to be born in the wrong body and to change one’s sex is dishonest. No child is born in the wrong body. It is not possible to change sex. Attempts to modify one’s body in order to look like the opposite sex involve ineffectual, risky surgery and lifelong dependence on medication that has serious side effects. We have a duty to protect children’s health and safety, to be honest with them about human biology, and to prepare them for life as adults. Additionally, teaching children that they cannot trust what their eyes and their instincts tell them to be true about a person in front of them is profoundly destabilising and dangerous.

The unquestioning support of trans ideology in the school system is not just harming children. Adults who have worked in Irish primary schools have experienced first-hand the dangers of this inhumane approach, which fails to allow for dissent or debate. People known to Genspect, among them detransitioners, have left jobs in the Irish education system due to the lack of support and acknowledgement that endorsement of trans ideology does not generally lead to happy outcomes. There is little to no understanding of the complex and devastating issues involved in detransition, an often long and painful process of reversing or discontinuing transition. To endure such an ordeal while working in an environment which cheers on the very ideology which caused the problem is, for most people, untenable. Any person, organisation, or institution willing to fly the flag for trans ideology cannot claim to know the full story unless they have listened to the stories of detransitioners, a tiny sample of which can be found here, here, and here.

A Silenced Majority

Most parents do not believe in trans ideology and do not expect or want it to be endorsed by schools, but many are afraid to raise the issue for fear of being labelled bigoted. The same goes for teachers. Some mistakenly believe the issue must be very complex and that they just “don’t get it”. It’s not – the facts that we all knew until recently remain:

1. Sex is binary (we’re either male or female).
2. Sex is immutable (you can’t change from one to the other).
3. People are either male or female, no matter how they dress, what they call themselves, or what their sexuality is (who they’re attracted to).

Alarm Bells

This isn’t the first time the INTO has caused alarm bells to ring for those who are keeping an eye out. A short, animated video for teachers explaining how to teach gender ideology and facilitate social transition of a primary school child caused concern among parents and teachers, and on social media, and was later removed from the INTO website. You can watch it here:

Speak Up!

There are difficult questions to be asked, but teachers – the paying members of the INTO – must ask them. The INTO have a duty to their members. In turn, teachers have a duty to children and their parents. They must prioritise safeguarding of children and focus on preparing them for life in the real world. Children deserve an educational environment that is reality based and free from indoctrination.

Catherine Monaghan is an Irish women’s rights activist and founding member of Wicklow Women 4 Women.

Genspect Ireland contacted The INTO for comment, but their office is currently closed. This article will be updated with any response.

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