Trans girls must leave Girlguiding for good by September under new ruling

Trans girls must leave Girlguiding by September, following a Supreme Court ruling that women are defined by biological sex.

Girlguiding, the British equivalent of the Girl Scouts in the US, said it stands with the LGBTQ+ community despite enforcing the ban on trans youth.

It added: ‘We must operate lawfully and follow our governing charity documents, which affect how our membership eligibility is defined.

‘Although living by our values cannot change our legal responsibilities, it does shape how we treat everyone, how we speak about people, the culture we create, and the future we’re working towards.’

Guidance says that the ban will apply to all current trans girls and young women, as well as preventing them from volunteering in women-only roles.

Girlguiding, sometimes called the Girl Guides, first announced the ban in December, preventing trans youth from signing up. All current members will have to leave the organisation by September 6.

Girlguiding added: ‘This timeframe allows affected members and their families time to plan, prepare, access support, and decide when – between now and September – they feel ready to leave.

‘It also reflects feedback from our volunteers and members. Our intention throughout is to act with kindness, care and respect. ‘

But no amount of time might be enough for trans youngsters, Trans+ Solidarity Alliance told Metro.

‘Inclusive organisations being bullied into excluding people against their will is a profound failure of this government to live up to its promises to the trans community,’ the advocacy group said.

‘This news will be heartbreaking for the children and volunteer leaders that hold Girlguiding together, to fix a problem that doesn’t exist without anti-trans law.’

Tammy Hymas, policy lead at TransActual, added to Metro: ‘Guides across the country who want to stand shoulder to shoulder with their trans sisters are being forced to comply with the wishes of a tiny group of well-funded anti-trans campaigners who are happy to tear women’s institutions to pieces.’

Hymas called on the government to ensure organisations can legally include transgender people.

Why are we here?

A court ruled last year that ‘women’ under the anti-discrimination law are defined by their ‘biological sex’, a phrase that does not appear in the law.

Justices insisted in April that the ruling should not be seen as ‘a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another’.

Yet trans rights campaigners and human rights groups have said the ruling is being wielded to exclude and marginalise trans people.

Single-sex spaces – such as toilets or changing rooms – have been at the centre of this, with providers now trying to toe the line of equality law.

Girlguiding said it had received legal advice warning that accepting trans girls and women could violate the Equality Act 2010.

The Women’s Institute, a 100-year-old membership organisation that has let trans women join for the past four decades, said it received a legal warning and was enforcing a ban of trans members from April ‘with the utmost regret’.

‘This is not something we would do unless we felt that we had no other choice,’ a statement issued in December said.

Girlguiding says on its website that it is ‘by girls, for girls, powered by volunteers’ and helps ‘all girls know they can do anything’.

It runs groups for ages four to 18: Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers.

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