A backbench politician sustained an emphatic defeat in his bid to scrap trans-inclusion guidance used in Jersey schools.

After around four hours of debate in the States Assembly, Members voted by 35 to five to reject the proposition by Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache.

If passed, the move would have required Education Minister Rob Ward to replace the existing guidance for schools and education settings with a new document entitled ‘Treating children as children: a safeguarding approach to trans-identifying children and adolescents in Jersey schools.’

Deputy Bailhache said that while he respected the rights of adults to make decisions about their gender, the focus of the debate was children, not trans adults.

“This is a matter of safeguarding, it’s not a matter of equality or diversity,” he said.

The representative for St Clement said he regretted that Jersey’s Children’s Commissioner, Dr Carmel Corrigan, had become involved in the debate.

“The Commissioner has unfortunately been drawn into the gender-affirmation camp in the erroneous belief that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is about a child’s right to make decisions about their gender,” he said.

Deputy Ian Gorst put forward an amendment requesting that a review of the existing guidance should be carried out as a way of finding “common ground” on a topic where views were divergent.

The review would involve all interested parties, including parents, and consider the proposed guidance, he said, with the intention that it should begin after the June election and be completed by 31 December 2026.

The amendment was opposed by a series of speakers and defeated by 30 votes to 16.

In the main debate, Deputy Lucy Stephenson referred to the fears of the Assembly’s Diversity Forum, which she chairs, about the exclusionary impact of the proposal.

“At best, the proposition is completely unnecessary, while at worst it is a divisive tool which attempts to make a political football out of a small, potentially vulnerable, part of our community,” she said, describing the existing guidance as reasonable and evidence-based.

Another member of the forum, Deputy Helen Miles, said there were generational differences on the matter of gender identity, with young people more open and comfortable with discussions about gender.

She said she believed Deputy Bailhache’s proposition was based on “an emotive reading of a UK legal development”.

Deputy David Warr said that while the proposition was not perfect, it did provide some “damage limitation” and would help protect children from the impact of adult decisions.

There were deeper issues involved, he added, saying that he believed there was a lack of capacity to diagnose some of the mental health factors which could contribute to a young person’s uncertainty about their gender.

Deputy Jonathan Renouf said that he was pleased that Jersey had not experienced the same “weaponisation” of the gender debate as the UK, but that he feared Deputy Bailhache’s proposition could open the door to this.

The current arguments by those opposing trans rights were reminiscent of the “moral panic” in the UK in the 1980s when Section 28 of the Local Government Act stated that local authorities should not promote homosexuality, Deputy Renouf added.

Deputy Sam Mézec said the title of the proposition, Treating Children as Children, was misleading and suggested that it could more accurately be referred to as “treating children as props in a culture war”.

Deputy Bailhache criticised Deputy Ward, and said he hoped the next Education Minister “would be more open-minded and willing to listen”.

When it came to the vote, Deputy Bailhache was joined by four other Members in voting in favour: Constables Mike Jackson, Philip Le Sueur and Kevin Lewis, plus Deputy Barbara Ward.

There were five abstentions, by Deputies Rose Binet, Tom Binet, Ian Gorst, Carolyn Labey and Steve Luce.