Understand the LGBTQIA+ news: New guidance makes it next to impossible for schools to be supportive of Trans+ children's social transition

Understand the LGBTQIA+ headlines and keep track of the latest queer content and perspectives. QueerAF is written by Jamie Wareham, and a different queer creative each week.

💬 This week:

• KCSIE: New guidance for schools will see them ban Trans+ kids from most single-sex toilets, sports and events like school trips, while leaning on scare tactics to create a culture that views social transitioning as harmful in schools. We look at the guidance. 
• 40 days over: The scrutiny period for the EHRC code of practice in Parliament has now passed, which means the government can now set out a timeline for when it comes into force. We explore. 
• Already begun: Building on our exclusive last week, where the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) claimed cases of people being asked to confirm their sex in order to access single-sex spaces would be “rare and exceptional” – and your many comments sharing how you've faced it already – Aliyy Azad Malik writes on the realities Trans+ people are facing because of the code already.

Skip the doomscrolling and support queer creatives instead. We are QueerAF – and so are you.

English schools to segregate Trans+ kids – including those who've already transitioned – from September

TL;DR: New ‘Keeping Children Safe In Education 2026’ (KCISE) guidance sets out in detail the limits now placed on schools supporting Trans+ children. KCISE will require them to ban Trans+ children from single sex spaces that don't match their 'biological sex', segregating them into other spaces if they feel uncomfortable in toilets they can use. It also sets out expectations on reconsidering arrangements for 'social transition' at regular points, including for children who 'live in stealth' and those with arrangements made before the guidance.