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)

Thank you 😊

I was talking about the House of Lords peerages, which can only be passed down the male line, rather than the monarchy.

I'm willing to admit it if I am wrong though! 😂

By the way, scientifically established and understood biology is not ‘ideology’ at all. As I mentioned to another poster, you can hold your philosophical belief about gender identities all you wish, however the material reality of the biological fact that there are only two sexes and no person on earth can change sex and gender identity doesn’t change sex will continue to abide whether you reject it or accept it. Because that is material reality.

Why on earth would it? How are these two separate things connected? It just Scouts, no such org in Uk called “ Boy Scouts”

Good news but their attitude stinks.

It’s called girl guides for a reason

Indeed, conflating GGUK with a fictional organisation. There is no ‘Boy Scouts’.

No, I'm fairly sure that inherited peerages still go to the oldest male. The late Queen only changed the rules for royal succession.

The oldest son still inherits even of he has a gender recognition certificate and birth certificate saying he is female.

“The cult of gravity”
”material mysticism”
“Reality religion”
“Physics fanatics”
”chemistry crusader”

Sorry again! Didnt want to be a dick but it really meant a lot to me when she changed how it worked in the royal family. But I think you are right in that it is seperate from the Lords, so I apologise!

ETA did a wee google and we are both right about different things! Lets hope that the rest of the peerage follows suit although I cant help thinking that it wont sadly.

Calling it biological ideology sounds a lot like projection.

To be fair, you should have seen the Chemistry teacher at my last permanent place of work...He'd have loved that: "the Chemistry Crusader, coming to a school near you".

Oh gosh sorry I've just realised you weren't correcting me, you were just pointing out a lovely change in the rules which actually benefitted females! What a way to totally miss the point!

Yes this is fantastic and I didn't actually know this (not a monarchist either ha ha!), so thank you as well as sorry!😂

BTW online sources appear to have changed the origin story of the Guides, by saying that there were Girl Scouts at the first [Edit: Boy Scout] Jamboree, giving the impression that they were there officially.

According to my old Guide Handbook, a handful of girls went along uninvited and presented themselves to Baden-Powell [ and said "We're the Girl Scouts! consequently, BP], who then decided to set up the Girl Guides as a separate organisation.

I am very concerned by the huge lapses in safeguarding that GG enabled with that previous policy.

I also cannot imagine any female child feeling like they had any freedom at all to make their own informed decision about what language they could use and whether they could ask for a male child to be excluded in a parent and other family members were part of that group. That is very much adding pressure to those female children.

Haha I think we are having one of those "But I agree with you!!!" sort of rows!

Much love sister x

I really do hope that some parents of trans-girl Guides come across this thread and have a think about it. From what little I've read, I think it shows how much this decision is about female needs, and (obviously, to so many of us, but perhaps not to some of the parents and activists commenting) emphatically not bigotry - and also offer a wide range of ways to approach the difficult conversations this change may necessitate with their child.

I think the parents whose trans girls attend Guides are likely to be among the most ideologically captured and naive on the complexities of this issue, the evolving research, the nuances of the debate etc. (if I'd a child in that position, I like to think that I'd have directed them towards mixed-sex Scouts over faux-single-sex, to pre-empt just something like this and leave their options open... although it's easy for me to say, I know - particularly with the current pressure to unquestioningly validate identities and the misinformation out there (ref. the suicide stats above).

This is where I feel the BBC has behaved so unforgiveably. They've systematically withheld this information and understanding from well-intentioned parents and, by extension, the kids themselves. When our national broadcaster is busy insisting that there's a moral imperative to call rapists "she" while suppressing data and debate, it can be rather hard to blame a parent who thought that the Zeitgeist was promising their child unwavering long-term validation of a scientifically-supported trans identity...

This.

No, no it was my misunderstanding!

I think writing that incredibly long post earlier just taxed my two braincells to their limit😂

Yes, it would be nice to think that peerage would follow suit at some point, but like you I don't hold out much hope either.

Thanks so much. ,"A heavy heart" they can't just play it straight can they? And what about trans identifying adults? I guess they get to stay? I remember a gun toting guider leader in fishnets

The realisation that sexist stereotypes don't convince people that a body is something it isn't - shouldn't be something to be upset about. I would be concerned about what these children have been led to believe about whatever difference it is they think exists between boys and girls.

The belief that something is wrong - actually wrong, incorrect, misaligned - with a child's body purely because of what that child feels inside. Ugh, can't have a BOY feel like that, must be because they are 'really' female.

Just baffling that this still goes on.

Can I ask why you'd like to know? Just there's quite a lot of antagonism on here already and I don't want to enflame any more vitriol. Let's just say she would constantly assert herself as a girl from even before she could speak. It eventually became cruel to assert back to her "no, you're a boy", such was the distress it caused her. It's a hard balance to strike and it's challenging - but that's parenting.

Yep… the men folk get to keep everything. And the women lose out.

But thanks to FWS at least transmen get to keep maternity protection that the Scottish Government admitted they would have lost if they had got their way. GI is a men’s rights movement.

Because you're not raising them in fear, full of bigoted, outdated beliefs?

Scouts hasn't been boy scouts for a couple of decades. They had a big vote and changed their constitution to become a mixed-sex organisation, which is absolutely fine.

Girl guides has not held a vote for a constitution change, they were operating under a constitution that states that they were for girls and young women but without changing that constitution were attempting to unlawfully operate in a way that admitted some male children by stealth. They could hold a vote and become mixed sex if that is the will of their members but it would then need to admit all male children on an equal basis, not just the ones who believe they have a feminine gender identity. I don't think the members will vote for that.

Yes. The male regional leader who thought it was appropriate to have a Facebook account with their BDSM pics, and a profile header of them in a bubble bath in the circle pic against the long header pic of a group of little girls in tutus in a line with him there.

And a couple of women who complained had visits by the police or were told they were referred to the police by GG.

This was a regional leader!