Angela has two daughters, aged 13 and 10, who both attend their local Girlguiding group in the UK. Like many girls their age, they enthusiastically collect their badges, make new friends and attend the organisation’s large summer jamboree every year.
But as of September, Angela’s youngest daughter will have to leave Girlguiding because she is transgender.
Last week, Girlguiding announced that in the wake of the supreme court ruling, all trans girls, and young trans women who volunteer, will have to have to hand in their membership.
“It’s deeply distressing for all of us. How do you tell a child that the place they once belonged, they’re no longer welcome at? I’m unable to give her a reason that makes sense to her,” said Angela, who did not give her surname due to fears for her daughter’s safety.
Her daughter will keep Girlguiding over the summer – the family has already booked and paid for her to attend an international jamboree in August – before leaving in the autumn, something her mother believes will have a “catastrophic impact” on her.
Her elder sister, meanwhile, is torn about what to do. “It’s a very tricky position for her to be in,” said Angela. “Girlguiding has taught her values of kindness and compassion, and now she’s being told those values have limits and that limit is your younger sister. It’s very difficult.”
The announcement has thrust Girlguiding into the centre of a polarising debate. In response to the membership change, a protest group called Guiders Against Trans Exclusion (Gate) has been formed by volunteers and parents, and is planning protests in six cities across the country on 12 April.
About 500 volunteers have signed a collective letter of intent to resign from Girlguiding, with Gate saying more people are leaving their posts every day.
Lily, a Girlguiding volunteer on the GATE leadership committee, said: “We’ve got volunteers who’ve been in the organisation 10, 20, 30 years, who’ve given their lives to this, who’ve built their community in this, and who just can’t bear the thoughts of kicking out young members who’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.
“We have had no issues in nearly a decade of being trans inclusive. We also have cisgender men as unit helpers and activity advisers, and there’s never been any objection to any of these men being involved in Girlguiding events.”
Lily asked not to give her surname over fear of backlash, and said the amount of abuse their group had received online was “absolutely shocking”. They don’t allow children to join as Gate members, but there were fears the issue was starting to impact daily Girlguiding activities.
“Groups are now risk assessing going out in public in uniform. The public perception of Girlguiding just a few short months ago was incredibly positive. Now we’re out and about thinking, is someone going to start yelling at us in the street? All because we’ve been dragged into doing something we don’t want to do,” she said.
Along with the protests, there are those who have welcomed the news. Girlguiding had received complaints and legal challenges from parents over its policy to allow trans members, which some viewed as a safeguarding risk.
Katie Alcock, a former Girlguider who said she was expelled from the organisation for expressing her concerns about its trans membership policy on social media, said she was pleased the leadership had “seen sense” over the issue.
“Finally, the organisation that had expelled me seven years ago was prioritising safeguarding and girls’ rights to single-sex spaces. It’s a pity it did it with such bad grace,” she told the Telegraph.
“Where was the positive spin in this statement saying it is happy to be fully in compliance with the law and it hopes this will be the start of great things?”
Some have interpreted Girlguiding’s language – that it made a “difficult decision” taken “with a heavy heart” – to mean its leaders felt forced into making the change by the supreme court ruling last year.
This concluded “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred to biological sex at birth, not gender identity, and had repercussions for same-sex spaces and membership groups.
Lily said: “We know Girlguiding didn’t want to do this but we still want to hold them to account for the decisions they’ve made and make it really clear they are hurting people.
“At the same time, this didn’t start in Girlguiding headquarters and it won’t finish in Girlguiding headquarters so we do want to make it clear to the government that they absolutely need to step in because so many organisations that want to be inclusive are being attacked with legal threat after legal threat and they just can’t afford to keep defending themselves.”
