SCHOOLS are giving out stickers in an attempt to support transgender children.

The stickers are part of Brighton and Hove City Council’s “My Pronouns are...” badge campaign, which is intended to show others how people prefer to be addressed.

The badges include statements such as “my pronouns are she/her/hers”, “my pronouns are he/him/his” and “my pronouns are they/them/theirs”.

There is also a blank badge where people can fill out their own pronouns.

Schools are now being given stickers to show support for the campaign.

Trans rights campaigner Sophie Cook, who ran as Labour Parliamentary candidate for Worthing in 2017, says “misgendering”, the act of addressing an individual intentionally or unintentionally by the wrong pronoun, can be harmful to transgender people.

She said: “The problem is that people look at one incident of misgendering and think it’s just one word.

“But it’s not just one word, it is that word ten times a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year.

“It has a cumulative effect which chips away at a person’s identity.”

Sophie believes that children in school are especially affected by misgendering as they are in a “difficult development period”.

She said: “In these situations, you will have people up in arms.

“But quite frankly, what difference does it make to those people?

“It’s a great way of making people think about identities of the people they’re talking to.

“There is far too much false moral outrage about things that have no effect on the people doing the loudest shouting.”

It comes after Brighton and Hove City Council started leaving pronoun badges at libraries, town halls and museums for the Trans Day of Visibility on Sunday.

The council said stickers will be given to secondary schools and wearing them would be voluntary.

The badges have slogans such as “my pronouns matter”, “respect my pronouns, respect me” and “gender is a spectrum”.

A spokeswoman said: “The badges and stickers help raise awareness that you can’t assume someone’s gender identity and the pronouns they use.

“We know from a range of evidence that gender is more complicated than is traditionally recognised.

“We all define our own gender and we should respect other people’s identities and rights.

“We’re proud of being a diverse city, and the council is committed to equality and inclusion for all people, including our trans and non-binary residents. Our equality and inclusion strategy rightly supports those who are experiencing greatest disadvantage.”

Last year, schools were issued with a gender guidance “tool kit” to ensure transgender children felt included.

They have been told they must adhere to the advice, which includes such things as shared toilets, mixed sports and the right for pupils to dress in either male or female uniform.