UK Department for Education boots transgender kids' charity from school guidance after multiple scandals
'Mermaids' has repeatedly found itself in hot water amid scandals that include one related to a group for 'minor-attracted persons'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The U.K. Department for Education removed a transgender kids' charity as a mental health and well-being resource from official government guidance after the organization has been repeatedly embroiled in scandals.
Mermaids, a nonprofit whose website says it "has been supporting transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children, young people, and their families since 1995," was taken out of the U.K.'s guidance on Oct. 11, according to a government website.
Mermaids has repeatedly found itself in hot water, most recently after a board trustee resigned this month following an unearthed 2011 speech he gave to B4U-Act, a Maryland-based organization that promotes services to people sexually attracted to minors.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Parents have also expressed concern after it was revealed that children on the Mermaids' online forum were trying to move conversations about experimental hormone treatments and surgeries onto less closely supervised platforms, according to the Times of London.
CHRISTIAN PARENTS WIN IN COURT AFTER SCHOOL LABELED 6-YEAR-OLD SON POTENTIALLY ‘TRANSPHOBIC’
Mermaids is a transgender rights nonprofit based in Leeds, U.K. The organization has distanced itself from a former trustee who spoke about "minor-attracted persons" in 2011. (Richard Klune via Getty Images)
Mermaids has been flush with taxpayer money, but the National Lottery recently paused its £500,000 grant as the nonprofit is being investigated by the country's Charity Commission amid allegations that it was providing "breast binders" to girls as young as 13 behind their parents' backs, according to the Times of London.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mermaids did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment by time of publication.
Mermaids has also been listed as a resource in the U.K.'s Cornwall Schools Transgender Guidelines, which were originally published in 2015. The guidance, which has been adopted by many schools across the U.K., suggests how best to implement gender-neutral toilets and also encourages acceptance of cross-dressing and gender transition among children.
Department for Education on July 24, 2022, in London. (Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)
The guidelines are being re-evaluated after the government recently settled in court with Christian parents Nigel and Sally Rowe, who had sued the U.K. Department for Education after a primary school had labeled their son "transphobic" when he was 6 years old.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre that represented the Rowes, praised the Department for Education's recent move to dump Mermaids from its guidance.
U.K. parents Nigel and Sally Rowe took legal action against their country's Department for Education after a school labeled their young son "transphobic." (Christian Concern)
"We are delighted to see this minor but important change. This wouldn't have been possible without Nigel and Sally Rowe's brave challenge of the Department for Education's position, supported by extensive evidence," Williams said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. "The government must follow through and end its 'inclusion at any cost' policy."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Williams went on to say that part of the problem of transgender ideology being pushed among schoolchildren is emerging from the Church of England, which she said still supports Mermaids' ideology in their guidance titled "Valuing All God's Children."
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby leads the opening service of the 15th Lambeth Conference at Canterbury Cathedral in Kent on July 31, 2022. (Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)
Williams said the Church's guidance "is increasingly being used in courts of law to hammer Christians who believe what the Bible teaches — that each of us are made male or female, equally valuable but objectively different."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"The Church of England's failure to speak truthfully and compassionately on this point is hurting Christians and failing to safeguard countless children," Williams said.