Girl Guides are now GIRL ONLY!

[Iamwhoiamwhoareyou]

Following April's supreme court ruling, the Girl Guides have FINALLY made a statement and will remain GIRLS ONLY - Finally closing the door on admitting trans members or allowing BOYS to invade female only spaces/camp (which, would be done without informing parents that their daughter would be sharing a room with a biological male!) - I have a previous post in feminism chat for anyone wanting to read the previous thread on this

EMAIL RECEIVED HOT OFF THE PRESS 5 MIN AGO -

As the parent of a young member in Girlguiding, following April’s Supreme Court decision relating to sex and gender, we wanted to give you an update. Many organisations across the country have been facing complex decisions about what it means for girls and women and for the wider communities affected, including us.

Girlguiding’s governing charity documents set out that the membership and people who benefit from our organisation are girls and women. In April, the Supreme Court ruled that girls and women are defined in the Equality Act 2010 by their biological sex at birth.
Following detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members and our Council, Girlguiding’s Board of Trustees has made the difficult decision that Girlguiding must change 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.

There will be no immediate changes for current young members but more information will be shared next week.

Most adult roles, including unit helpers, district helpers and administrative support, are already open to all, so we are confident that no volunteers will have to leave the organisation.

Girlguiding believes strongly in our value of inclusion, and we will continue to support young people and adults in marginalised groups. Over the next few months, we'll explore opportunities to champion this value and actively support young people who need us.

You can find our full statement and updated policy on our website.

We are proud to be the UK’s largest youth organisation dedicated to girls and is focused on creating an equal world for girls and young women. For over 100 years, we have been a welcoming space for all girls to have new experiences, support their communities, build friendships and grow their confidence.

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

If you have any immediate questions, we have our special support team in place, to give volunteers, parents and carers the best support we can. We are asking Girlguiding HQ, trading and country/region staff to refer any volunteer or parent who has questions about this announcement. Details below.

Contact [email protected] or 020 7532 3970
All calls/emails will be confidential, and the service will be open 24hrs, 7 days a week.
Find out more, including how this team will handle personal data.

Denise Wilson (Chair of Trustees), Felicity Oswald (CEO) and Tracy Foster (Chief Guide)

Girls shouldn't be taught that being ‘kind’ means capitulating and budging up to make space for males. Because that isn’t kindness, that’s just male privilege asserting itself.

Teach your child the joy of self acceptance.

So as a feminist, do you agree women need and deserve single sex spaces for safety privacy and dignity? And if so, how are you going to tell your son he has to use male facilities when you’ve encouraged him to think of himself as a girl? Would you expect your teenage son to share a tent with girls?

Intriguing. I have to reiterate I don’t really care for either side of the argument it’s all silly but who gets the right to define what’s a female or male activity?

Which comments do you interpret as bigoted about young children and adults?

Can a 4 yr old really be trans?
Presumably that's how their parents describe them but it's seriously bizarre.

Look, its 2025. Women had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to get our stuff back. We did it, and we're not letting go of it, ever again.

It just doesn't work to try and scold us anymore.

Any activity that females do is a female activity.

A female activity is one that is undertaken by females
A male activity is one that is undertaken by males
I think that pretty well defines female/male activities

Look up the trans loophole in the system for doing checks

Could you at least have the basic respect - for yourself and others - to Google the history of the Guide movement before asking your ridiculous "gotcha" questions?

You did make the choice to take your male child to what should have been a single sex group, and where other parents did not have the full knowledge of his presence so that they could make informed decisions. That is a safeguarding failure, yet you don’t seem to understand that.

The 'do better' at the end of it, (which is something I've only seen men write) really says everything doesn't it.

Ok name 10 activities that you define as only females should partake and only 10 that only males can partake.

Activities in a female single sex group are ‘female’ activities.

Abd the roller derby reference. Talk about outing yourself lol.

Abd the roller derby reference. Talk about outing yourself lol.

It is not possible to support women's rights to single sex spaces, while also maintaining that men/boys should be able to identify into these single sex spaces on the grounds of their gender identity.

Deep down you know that.

impregnating a female (through sexaul intercourse)

This is a golden opportunity for you to be truly kind to your son. Be clear with him that he can't change sex, but that he can be any kind of boy he wants to be. Enrol him in a mixed-sex organisation. Explain to him that historically, other boys of his age have thought they were girls/wanted to be girls, and his feelings are real and important. But tell him that until recently, most of those boys have outgrown those feelings during adolescence (it's been complicated recently by people doing as you appear to be doing, and concretising a trans identity in a young child which makes it harder for the feelings to resolve). Let him know that you'll support him in doing the things he wants to do, whether they're 'badged' as being for girls or boys, but be clear with him that he can't join groups or activities reserved exclusively for girls, as he isn't one. That would be much kinder than colluding in any fantasies that he is, or can become, a girl. Hopefully as he moves into and through adolescence he'll be reconciled to living happily in his body as it is, rather than needing to become a lifelong medical patient. If he's one of the minority who persists in a trans identity, at least you'll know you didn't set him on a pathway towards major invasive treatment and surgery.

Yes there is. Woodcraft folk Elfins and scouting Cubs are both mixed sex. Or there are craft clubs and hobby clubs that don't have a single sex rule. Almost everything is mixed sex except for a few small things where it's a proportionate means to achieve a a legitimate aim to say this thing is single sex, and your child needs to understand and respect that it is impossible for a single sex space for female people to exist if it admits male people, even male people with a feminine gender identity. If your child cannot understand and agree to that, that's evidence of a very male-coded kind of selfish entitlement. Your child will be much better off being a child in a mixed sex environment rather than trying to fit in by following sexist ideas of performing femininity. The girls in the brownie pack are not tools to be used for the emotional support and validation of another person's belief system.

Why? Ohhhhh you think when we say singlesex groups it’s cos they’ll be doing different activities. Bless you.

Exactly this. Honesty is always the best policy.

Yep, and I forgot the barbie part. So obvious it's a male using what they see as a girls handle.

People with trans identities exist. But what they cannot do is change sex. Your child is male. GG is a single sex organisation for females. Your child is not being discriminated against for being trans. GG does not exclude females with trans identities but it does exclude males. That is legal sex discrimination. Don’t encourage your child to believe that he is being discriminated against.

I agree that GG as an organisation has let down your child. He should never have been allowed to join. But even worse is that GG has for years let down hundreds of thousands of girls by not providing them with the single sex facility that is promised.

It’s not that the activities themselves are sex-based, more whether there are single-sex provisions within them.

Cricket is played by both sexes, it’s huge in Aus for women and girls as well as males. Cricket Australia has deemed that, after 12, for reasons of safety and fairness the sexes are separated. The sport itself isn’t single-sex and social mixed teams can exist if people want them to.

GG activities can be performed by anyone who wants to. GG has set themselves up as a single-sex organisation, because there is a demand for this.