Catholic schools advised to offer gender-neutral bathrooms, unisex uniforms

Unisex bathrooms could be introduced at Catholic schools, but the Church’s gender fluidity statement stops short of supporting trans students.

The guide covers the nation’s Catholic schools, educating 211,000 Victorian students.

Catholic schools should offer gender-neutral bathrooms and unisex uniforms under a new push to support gender fluid students, school leaders have been told.

Catholic education officials released a statement on gender fluidity at the annual Australian Catholic Bishop’s Conference on Tuesday.

But the document stops short of affirming the decision of children to begin a physical process of gender reassignment involving puberty blockers.

“Many medical and healthcare professionals do not endorse this form of treatment, finding it medically an ethically controversial,” the statement says.

It cites highly controversial research that suggests such blockers lead to infertility and notes that eight or nine out of ten children with gender incongruence will “pass safely” through it with the right care.

The guide offers principles that can be used by Catholic education authorities for their own local contexts.

It covers the nation’s Catholic schools, which includes 211,000 Victorian students across both primary and secondary sectors.

This opposes the “gender-affirmative” approach which sees adults affirming the chosen gender of the child with a more holistic “biopsychosocial approach” which sees most instances of gender fluidity as a social condition that can be managed with the right support.

It notes that Catholic educators do not support the notion that a child’s “mere beliefs about themselves — including their race, sex or gender — can determine their identity”.

The document also suggests students over 12 with a gender identity different to their biological sex may be excluded from single-sex sport because of a physical advantage.

“In single-sex competitive competition where students are over the age of 12 years, it may be lawful to exclude a student from a team where the strength, stamina or physique of competitors is relevant,” it says.

The guidelines also note that creating a unisex “bathroom space that is private and not aligned to biological sex increases the access and safety options of vulnerable students and may alleviate anxieties”.

“Offering flexibility with uniform expectations, would cater to the diversity of the student body,” it says.

The document says schools should record a student’s biological sex at enrolment but that the student’s preferred name, identity and pronouns should be noted.

“Catholic schools are well placed to handle the above practical matters sensitively and thoughtfully, keeping in mind that the majority of students experiencing gender variance may not desire or seek out a medical intervention for transition,” it says.

The paper notes that popular rhetoric around gender variance is based on views of sex and gender that are “inconsistent with a Christian understanding” – that gender is separate to sex and that gender can be fluid.

“Apart from rare cases of people born with a combination of both male and female biological characteristics, every human being is born either biologically male or biologically female,” it says.

National Catholic Education Commission executive director Jacinta Collins said the guide “will be the first of many opportunities for Catholic education authorities and schools in the formation of leaders and teachers to reflect on how they can respond to gender and identity with care and sensitivity”.