An eight-year-old child with disabilities was denied participation in a summer camp after disagreements over his mother’s gender-critical opinions, according to claims that surfaced.
The child’s mother had applied for him to attend a trip organized by the charity, Over The Wall, scheduled for July 6 to 8 at Strathallan School in Perthshire, Scotland. Her son has multiple severe physical challenges.
In March, following a contentious phone conversation with the charity’s clinical director, the 52-year-old mother was informed her application was unsuccessful. During the call, she expressed the belief that people cannot change their sex.
Sally McCluskie, from the organization, had called the mother—who has chosen to stay anonymous—after she reacted with ‘seriously?’ to an application form question about her child’s pronouns.
While the charity, established by the legendary Oscar-winning actor Paul Newman, cited the rejection was due to the mother being ‘verbally aggressive’ during the conversation, the actual circumstances came to light.
With the assistance of Free Speech Union Scotland, the mother was able to retrieve records of the call, which indicated that her opinions were not in line with the charity’s upheld values.
‘We will be making the family unsuccessful for this year’s camp due to the lack of alignment with our inclusive environment,’ Ms McCluskie wrote.
Ms McCluskie documents in the notes, obtained through a subject access request, that the mother had become ‘immediately defensive’ when she had explained the importance of pronouns at the camps, according to The Telegraph.
‘[The mother] immediately became defensive, stating that we cannot tell her child what to say,’ she wrote.
An eight-year-old disabled child was barred from attending a charity’s summer camp at Strathallan School in Perthshire, Scotland, because of his mother’s gender-critical views, it is claimed
‘She made it clear that if her child sees a girl, he should refer to her as a girl.’
She said the mother had ‘abruptly’ ended the call after saying she was ‘shocked by our stance’ and that she would not change her views.
The mother said the treatment she had received was ‘absolutely disgusting’, before adding: ‘I think it’s sick to have let [gender ideology] bleed into a charity that’s supposed to help these children and their families.’
It is understood a transgender child was going to be attending the summer camp.
A spokesperson for OTW said: ‘The decision was not based on the views expressed on a form, but on [the mother’s] conduct during a phone call with our Clinical Director, where she was verbally aggressive and ended the call abruptly.
‘Our decision was influenced by the fact that we had accepted a family with a transgender child for that camp, and considering [the mother’s] strong views on gender and her right to express them, we thought it prudent that she did not attend that camp to avoid any potential issues or conflict.’
In May, a mother was banned from the playground by her daughter’s primary school after complaining that children as young as nine were having their ‘transgender identity’ affirmed by teachers.
Karina Conway, 42, was said to have complained about the way gender issues were being taught to pupils at Sunnyside Spencer Academy in Beeston, Nottingham.
The free camp was being held at the boarding school’s grounds (pictured) from July 6 to 8
The mother-of-two claimed the school was teaching 11-year-olds that ‘transgender identity’ was a protected characteristic, when the Equality Act makes no mention of it.
She was ordered to stay away from the playground for eight months in September 2024 and then told she could only return if she didn’t criticise the school online, The Telegraph reported.
Teachers had previously called the police in 2023 when Ms Conway and women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen staged a protest outside the school.
Ms Conway told The Telegraph: ‘This trust is silencing the voices of parents who know sex is real and when it matters, it really matters.’
