On the 31st of May, Merched Cymru tweeted in response to seeing photographs of the distribution of ‘pronoun badges’ at the Urdd Eisteddfod.
What on earth has possessed the Urdd? The ideology attached to attempts to normalise this practice is damaging to inclusion and to children and young people's development and sense of self.
We need to ditch the labelling and regressive stereotypes not reify and promote them. https://t.co/YjB7Bq32b7
— Merched Cymru (@MerchedCymru) May 31, 2023
We have concerns that this emphasis upon gender identity places pressure upon gender-nonconforming children to define themselves via pronouns, when their identities are not yet fully developed.
We were invited to provide a comment to BBC Wales, which was cited in both Welsh and English language articles on the topic. We were disappointed but not surprised that our views were reported as a criticism of support for young people who are same-sex attracted and/or gender non-conforming. The Welsh media has to date made precious little effort to understand gender-critical positions.
Our full statements can be found below.
