Boys should be allowed to wear skirts to school, says children's tsar

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Boys should be allowed to wear skirts to school, says children's tsar By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Boys should be able to wear skirts to school because uniforms 'should not discriminate', a children's adviser has claimed. Tam Baillie, the Scottish parliament’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, has backed 13-year-old Luca Scarabello, who is fighting for a ban on ‘gender-specific uniforms’. Mr Baillie said that Luca, a pupil at St Mungo’s High School in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, who lodged a petition with the Scottish Government in November, had ‘raised important rights issues’. The public petitions committee (PPC) is considering Luca's proposals. In his response to the PPC, Mr Baillie claimed that forcing uniforms on children could cause ‘serious distress’ for those with gender variants. Mr Baillie said ‘We should be rejecting discriminatory practice and allowing our children and young people to express themselves. 'I would agree that gender specific uniforms or dress codes can cause serious distress in gender-variant pupils. 'School uniforms and dress codes should not be discriminate, directly or indirectly against any of these protected groups. 'Schools should be reviewing their uniform code policies to ensure they do not have the effect of unlawfully discriminating against pupils with a protected characteristic.' The young peoples' commissioner believes that forcing children to stick to strict uniform policies could contravene the UN convention on the Rights of the Child and the Equality Act 2010. The latter law places a duty on public bodies to prevent discrimination on the grounds of gender-reassignment or sexual orientation. However he accepted that having a uniform acts as a "leveller" between children of differing financial backgrounds and helped reduce stigma and bullying. He added 'This is clearly an issue which divides people and there are strong views on both sides. The campaign is being backed by the Scottish Transgender Alliance and LGBT Scotland, which represents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In his petition, the schoolboy said ‘Gender specific uniforms ... cause problems for gender variant pupils and create a stigma. It is outdated nonsense.’

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