A Victorian mother has lodged a formal complaint after a Year 8 student who identifies as transgender was placed in a cabin with a small number of girls for two nights on a school camp.

Her daughter was not in the cabin but this mother knew it was important to speak out.

No parent should ever have to ask, “why are girls being expected to accept males in their sleeping spaces?”

The school says it followed government guidelines. And that is a massive problem.

When government guidelines are based on the idea that gender identity overrides biological sex, girls are the ones who pay the price.

Girls know the difference. These are Year 8 students. They are approximately 13 or 14 years old. They are children. They are going through puberty. Their bodies are changing. They are becoming increasingly conscious of privacy, modesty and personal boundaries.

And yet the government and education system are trying to tell girls their biological sex doesn’t matter.

Of course it matters.

A male is not female. A female is not male. No human being can change sex.

This isn’t hatred. It’s biology.

And girls deserve the truth for protection, safety and dignity.

It is cruel to lie to children. There is something profoundly wrong with expecting children to accept that biological sex is something that can simply be changed.

We don’t help children by confusing them. We don’t protect them by pretending biology doesn’t exist.

And we certainly shouldn’t be teaching girls that their own sex is somehow less important than someone else’s gender identity.

A girl shouldn’t have to question whether she is allowed to feel uncomfortable sharing a sleeping space with a male.

She shouldn’t have to justify why she wants privacy.

She shouldn’t have to become an activist simply to have her boundaries respected.

Girls deserve better.