Girlguiding bows to pressure from TERFs and bans trans girls

Since the Supreme Court ruling on sex and gender in April, many organisations have either willingly or under pressure from TERFs been excluding trans women and girls. Today, Girlguiding announced that, in light of the ruling, trans girls will no longer be welcome in the organisation.

Girlguiding forced to exclude trans girls

In a statement, Girlguiding said:

Following detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members and our Council, the Board of Trustees for Girlguiding has made the difficult decision that Girlguiding must change, following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

From today, 2 December, it is with a heavy heart that we are announcing trans girls and young women will no longer be able to join Girlguiding. This is a decision we would have preferred not to make, and we know that this may be upsetting for members of our community.

The statement assures current young members that nothing will change immediately, but there will be more information next week. The organisation also points out that adult volunteer roles are mostly already open to all, so they are confident that “no volunteers will have to leave the organisation”.

However, this assumes that the new stance won’t embolden parents already against trans women volunteering. If that happens, they could be bullied out. Or they might leave because they feel unwelcome in an organisation that doesn’t support them.

Girlguiding says a new taskforce will be created so they can work out how best to support all current members. They aim to create new opportunities for all.

Decision comes after legal threats from TERFs

It’s absolutely not a coincidence that this decision comes just a few weeks after a parent went to the press. The parent threatened to sue Girlguiding for apparently discriminating against her cis daughter. In the letter, reported by the Times, the mother said the organisation’s policy of allowing trans girls.

constitutes and encourages unwanted conduct which violates their [girls’] dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment

The letter claims that by not excluding trans girls Girlguiding “continues to operate in an unlawfully discriminatory manner”.

Girlguiding was one of the few organisations that stood up for and had an inclusive policy towards trans girls and women. In 2018, their guidance was updated to explicitly state that trans women and girls were welcome.

The same year, guide leader Helen Watts was expelled from the organisation for setting up a private Facebook group to share her outrage. This was basically to be a massive TERF though. Of course, this was framed by the press as “sharing her concerns”. Then in 2022, guide leader Katie Alcock ended up getting compensation from the organisation. This occurred after being expelled for, again, being a TERF on social media.

Girlguiding reiterates their support of trans people

Whilst the statement is a hard one, it seems that it’s not something they wanted to do. This is especially underscored by how much they talk about their desire to support everyone.

While Girlguiding may feel a little different going forward, these core aims and principles will always endure and we remain committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, particularly those from marginalised groups that have felt the biggest impact of this decision.

In addition to this, a separate message of support to the trans members of Girlguiding was posted. It read:

Despite today’s announcement, we wanted to reaffirm that we remain allies to trans girls, trans women and the trans community, and are deeply grateful for the continued contributions to Girlguiding. We recognise that you need our solidarity now more than ever.

It also said:

Thank you for everything you bring to Girlguiding. You are valued and we will continue to find ways to recognise and celebrate the contributions of trans people within our organisation.

What’s clear in today’s announcement is just how under pressure organisations are from gender criticals to turn their backs on trans women and girls, and sadly, it’s a pressure they can’t withstand when the law has been hijacked by far-right TERFS, who would be happy to see trans people dead.

Featured image via Girlguiding