Museums should be a location where children can explore their gender identity, new guidance suggests.
The paper - which advises cultural institutions on transgender inclusion - is being used by museum and gallery chiefs to help them tackle “confusing” new legal protections for gender-critical beliefs.
According to the guidance museums should “stimulate positive explorations of gender” for children.
The 44-page document says signs and flags on display will let children feel museums are places “they can explore self-expression without fear of reprisal”.
According to the guidance, museums should 'stimulate positive explorations of gender' for children
PAMuseums should be “places not just where trans kids can go, but where they want to go”, according to the paper.
The research also advises that they “should be provided with access to the toilets and changing rooms of their choice”.
Produced by Leicester’s Research Centre for Museums and Galleries under its director Prof Richard Sandell, the purpose of the guidance is to tackle the “growing uncertainty and anxiety surrounding trans-inclusive practice”.
The paper claims it can be confusing for museum bosses to find a middle ground between the push for trans inclusion and those who believe humans cannot change sex.
It comes as sceptical voices suggest the gender debate has “become increasingly bold” and claims that “outspoken objections to trans content frequently intersect with homophobia, misogyny and racism”.
The guide offers advice situations such as what to do if someone refuses to use preferred pronouns or if “a member of staff at the museum has been expressing gender critical beliefs in the staff room”.
It directs bosses through how to handle “awkward exchanges” where someone might claim “that trans rights take away women’s and girls’ rights”.
Other sections discuss the use of bathrooms, including supplying male bathrooms with menstrual products and using gender-inclusive language in all communications.
The guidance directs bosses through how to handle 'awkward exchanges' where someone might claim 'that trans rights take away women’s and girls’ rights'
PAHelen Joyce, an author and director of the not-for-profit human rights organisation Sex Matters, said: “They don’t see it, but it’s a work of bigotry.
“They treat the belief that there are two sexes as if it’s totally beyond the pale.”
She added: “Inclusion in the way activists use it invariably means exclusion. Exclusion of views that do not conform to one particular ideology.”
Joan Smith, author and member of Sex Matters Advisory Group, said: “There’s no reason why trans people or anyone else should feel unsafe in public buildings, including museums.
“This is creating problems where they don’t exist, using language that can only be described as fear-mongering."
