Imagine being three years old—your biggest worries are snack time, nap time, and maybe who gets to play with the red truck.
Now imagine being kicked out of preschool because of “transphobia.”
Sound crazy? That’s because it is.
But that’s what happened in the United Kingdom, according to official government data.
A toddler—yes, a toddler—was suspended from a state nursery school sometime in the 2022-23 school year.
The reason? “Abuse against sexual orientation and gender identity.”
That’s the official explanation from the UK’s Department for Education (DfE), as reported by The Telegraph.
Let that sink in. A preschooler is now accused of something most adults have a hard time defining.
What Actually Happened?
Well, we don’t really know.
The DfE didn’t release the name of the school, what the child supposedly said or did, or even whether it was a boy or a girl.
No one seems to know what the offense actually was.
Did the child say “boys can’t be girls”?
Did they question a story during circle time?
Did they just repeat something they heard at home?
That lack of clarity hasn’t stopped this from turning into a huge debate.
And it should be a debate, a massive debate, because when government institutions start labeling toddlers as dangerous based on undefined ideological rules, something has gone seriously wrong.
Not an Isolated Case
Sadly, this wasn’t a one-off.
The same DfE report found that 94 primary school children in England were either suspended or expelled in 2022-23 for behavior labeled as homophobic or transphobic.
That includes ten children as young as five or six years old (Year 1), three from Year 2 (ages six to seven), and that one nursery-aged child – the toddler.
And the trend is going up. In 2021-22, there were 164 of these cases. Now it’s 178.
What Are We Doing?
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy for Sex Matters, called this whole thing “absurd” and said it shows the “extremes of gender ideology.”
Should a preschooler really have their education disrupted over this kind of thing?
Lord Young of the Free Speech Union said that punishing toddlers this way just proves the ideology is out of control.
Even Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling chimed in, calling it “totalitarian insanity.”
She added that adults who treat kids this way are “dangerous zealots” who shouldn’t be near children in the first place.
And they’re not wrong.
Kids need to learn kindness and respect, sure—but they also need space to grow, to make mistakes, and to ask questions.
That’s how learning works.
The Government’s Response (Or Lack of One)
The Department for Education gave a generic response, saying schools should be safe for everyone and that good behavior is expected.
No one’s arguing with that. But suspending toddlers over beliefs they probably don’t even understand?
That’s not safety—that’s fear.
So, What Should We Do?
This is where we need to step back and use some good old-fashioned common sense.
Preschoolers don’t need to be policed for political correctness. They need guidance, patience, and time to learn right from wrong.
Kids say silly things all the time—because they’re kids. It’s not hate; it’s curiosity.
Sometimes they ask questions. Sometimes they repeat what they hear at home. Sometimes they just say stuff that makes no sense at all.
But turning that into a suspension? That’s not discipline. That’s ideology pretending to be education.
We need to stop handing over our schools to activist thinking and start focusing on what actually helps children: teaching them reading, math, kindness, and respect without confusing them with adult politics.
No child should feel unsafe at school. That’s a basic principle we can all agree on.
But let’s not confuse bullying with a three-year-old saying something awkward or innocent.
That’s not hate—it’s childhood.
There’s a difference, and if we’ve forgotten that, maybe it’s time we reevaluate who’s doing the teaching.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
