Specialists in Rome s San Camillo Hospital have developed a plan to help children in the process of gender transition throughout Lazio. As part of the project, authorities are to install gender-neutral toilets in Lazio s public schools.

Staff at Rome s San Camillo Hospital have joined forces with volunteers of Agedo Nazionale – an LGBTQ NGO – in putting together an action plan for schools in Lazio with a view to helping children with gender dysphoria to develop a proper physical and mental identity.

The document was published on the occasion of Anti-Homophobia Day and the plans to be implemented have been sent to all schools in the region. A course on the subject has also been announced, and is scheduled to take place in September. 

Maddalena Mosconi, a psychologist specialising in minors, said: „This is the first document of this type to be issued for schools in Italy. These are practical tips, with the aim of protecting students who feel the need to present themselves to the world on the basis of their perceived sex.” 

„You cannot imagine how much resistance, both mental and bureaucratic, I encounter every time I call the school of one of the boys I follow,” Mosconi said. 

Another suggested practice concerns the use of toilets and changing rooms. „Many transgender teens say they do not use them, because they are very embarrassed to go to a gendered bathroom,” the document states.

It is advisable for each school to identify a bathroom and / or a changing room which is not characterized by any gender. Raising awareness and group activities „not segregated by sex” would also be very important. 

In the first quarter of this year there was a 150% increase in gender reassignment cases, compared with the same period in 2020. Secondary school first-graders are the most bullied students, but their harrassment decreases as they grow older.

Several organisations, including the Generation Family and Pro Vita & Famiglia, have protested against this new approach to gender. They say the acceptance of gender differences requires no ideological approach, and that equality courses should also be designed in this spirit. They requested assistance from the education ministry to suspend the action plan s implementation as soon as possible.