Woke row erupts as Sussex firefighters told biological sex is 'just a label' and 'runs on a spectrum'

In the guidance, one section asks the question: “What is the gender binary?”, before clarifying that “in white Western cultures, gender is seen as being an either/or choice, also known as a binary”.

Fire service staff have also been told that gender in fact is a set of behaviours.

Meanwhile, “sex is the label we’re assigned by a doctor when we’re born” the training material seen by The Telegraph says.

This label does not cover the “range of innate gender identities a person might have”, the material maintains.

It states: “In truth, our understanding of the amount of difference between bodies is only just emerging, and current research indicates that there is probably more of a physical spectrum of biological sex rather than the simple binary of male and female.”

The guidance also says that scientific research “increasingly shows that everyone’s biology is complex and doesn’t fit a simple binary anyway”.

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It claims hormonal make-up is “irrelevant to the gender they are”.

Fire service staff have also been told that they need to respect the pronouns of trans people and should apologise if they misgender them.

The guidance has been slammed by Helen Joyce, director of Sex Matters, who disputes its “evidence-free” claims.

“It’s infuriating to see public funds wasted on ‘training’ provided by obviously ignorant people,” she said.

“Anyone who believes that ‘sex is the label we’re assigned by a doctor when we’re born’ or that it ‘doesn’t fit a simple binary’ needs some basic training in biology themselves.

“Telling employees to put pronouns in their email signatures and to avoid using the words he or she for other people until they too have declared their pronouns is both silly and sinister.

“It’s forcing an evidence-free ideological position on people who would be better off focusing on their jobs. That this nonsense is being peddled in an essential service like firefighting makes the story all the more depressing,” concluded Joyce.

The guidance was funded by West Sussex County Council, and put together by Laura Mullins, the diversity and inclusion manager at West Sussex Fire and Rescue.

In an introduction to the training, staff are told that the purpose of the fire service is to “empower and support people to be the best they can be, to deliver to the highest standards when serving our communities and to uphold the values of our fire and rescue service”.