Why Daniel Radcliffe is wrong about children changing gender

Daniel Radcliffe has told a group of young people that adults worried about children changing gender have a ‘slightly condescending but well-meaning attitude of like, well, people are young and like… that is a huge decision’.

Yes, Daniel, it is a huge decision, and it is one that we should not be putting in front of children. Never before have children been told that they can choose whether to grow up to be a woman or a man. They can’t, of course. Human beings are male or female, a truth determined not by fantasies of the mind but the facts of biology.

Radcliffe’s comments appeared in a video he featured in produced by the Trevor Project. This California-based organisation was founded in 1998 with a mission, ‘to end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning young people.’ A worthy aim, certainly, but – judging by the 20 minute film that features Radcliffe – it believes the best way to do that is to affirm whatever a child might say.