I sent an email – and shattered the Tories’ 72 genders lie

Keegan made the claim across a number of interviewers (Picture: Getty)

If I, as a trans writer, was trying to create a parody of a moral panic, I would probably come up with the idea that British children are taught that there are ’72 genders’.

I am not even sure it would work as satire, as it sounds a bit too on the nose. 

The concept is so obviously ludicrous and extreme that no intelligent person could possibly believe it.

And yet, it happened. 

On May 16 this year, just a few short days before the General Election was announced, the then-Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, told Sky News that there was ‘some evidence from some people’ that children were being taught ‘as fact’ that there are ’72 genders’. 

This was an example Keegan gave of ‘gender ideology’, which she emphasised should not be taught in schools – justifying proposed new sex education guidance allegedly aimed to prevent this.

This baffling claim was unfortunately not limited to a single interview. 

It was repeated across multiple broadcast interviews, and even an opinion column in the Education Secretary’s name. 

In a BBC interview, Keegan was directly asked about non-anecdotal evidence she had seen about inappropriate things being taught to children in school. 

Even Rishi Sunak repeated the claim (Picture: Getty Images)

Her response, again, included the claim that children were being taught there were ’72 genders’, insisting that ‘yes there has been evidence’ of this. She insisted she had seen ‘slides’ but neglected to share them. 

And this damaging claim, which can cause real harm to communities like mine, was not just a minister misunderstanding, but a deliberate political strategy. 

That was confirmed later when the ‘72 genders’ trope was used as a talking point by then-Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, in an appearance on Loose Women.

I was shocked how little pushback there seemingly was on this obviously nonsense claim and while I wish I could have found the silliness amusing, I felt sick knowing the harm this false narrative would cause to my community.

As a trans journalist, I decided I would like to see this supposed ‘evidence’ for myself. I put in a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department for Education on May 17 (the day after the proposed guidance was announced). 

My request was initially rejected on the grounds that the Department was unable to search specifically for the term ’72 genders’. Following a complaint, it turned out they could in fact do it. 

And the answer came back earlier this week. They had found nothing. Not one single record or piece of evidence could be found to suggest that the idea that there are ’72 genders’ had ever been taught in any educational institution in the UK. 

It should perhaps be shocking that a minister can go on TV and say they have seen evidence of something that their own department says they can find no evidence of – but as a trans person I must admit to not being even slightly surprised.

The reality is, when it comes to trans people, these kinds of ridiculous statements are made all the time. Yet they frequently go unchallenged by sections of the press or other politicians. 

Too often, trans people are painted as monsters coming to indoctrinate your children into ‘gender ideology’ – when in reality we just want kids to understand and be able to safely navigate the wonderful, diverse world that we live in. 

Not too long ago, I was a trans kid myself – having thoughts and feelings about my identity and my body that I lacked accurate language to describe – I didn’t understand what a ‘nonbinary’ person even was. 

I asked Gillian Keegan’s old department for the source of her claim (Picture: Getty Images)

No one was teaching us anything about gender and sexuality, not least putting a number on it.

It wasn’t until I got to university that I learned about the queer community. I wish I had had proper sex education in school, as I might have been able to figure stuff out a lot sooner.

The proposed sex education guidance that the false ’72 genders’ claim was whipped out to justify seems likely to make life even harder for trans kids. 

The dangers quickly became apparent when Keegan’s interviews frequently blurred ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender ideology’ into one, making me feel like it wasn’t ideology that was up for debate – but my very existence. 

The National Education Union called out the guidance as ‘culture war noise’. The fearmongering about ‘gender ideology’ in schools sadly feels almost indistinguishable from the moral panics of previous decades, about the ‘gay agenda’. 

Sadly, while they acknowledge that the previous government ‘drifted into partisan guidance’, the new Labour minister for Education hasn’t done enough to reject it. 

In tracing the origins of this claim, you can see the real pain such misinformation causes. 

One speculated source for it seems to be an offhand comment made by a guest speaker (who sometimes performs as a drag queen) during their visit to a school on the Isle of Man – not even in Britain, not during a sex education lesson, and entirely unaffected by the proposed guidance. 

False news reports led to death threats against the teachers at the school – just one of the reasons I decided to find out more. 

Untrue claims and ‘culture war’ bile can have real, human costs. 

I will never forget the fate of Lucy Meadows. The coroner ruled that she took her own life in 2013 after being demonised and destroyed by the press – after coming out as a trans teacher.

We need to do a much better job of calling out false narratives about trans people in all aspects of life, and loudly demanding evidence when outrageous claims about marginalised communities are presented to us as simple facts.

Until we do, people like me will always bear the brunt of abuse. 

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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