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)

Oh dear

Lets just report the troll rather than feed it

If you refuse to accept that women and girls in SOME circumstances have right to single sex spaces, facilties and opportunities without having to centre trans identifying males in those spaces etc then you are supporting the erasure of women’s rights. Transmen being female would be welcome in a lot of those spaces but may be excluded from some. We don’t have to be allies with men who refuse to accept our boundaries.

If it walks like a duck and quack like a duck it's a fucking duck

Celibate ducks are ducks too. How exclusionary.

Simple girl guides and boy scouts

I am completely fine with men and boys having their own spaces. In fact, I want that.
The rest of your post is simply hateful misogynistic bigotry and self-loathing.

Fair enough. Like I said I understand issues surrounding camping with scouts/guides, changing rooms with swimming lessons and the current trans 'movement' if you will. But I can't think of any other hobbies now where both genders couldn't join in. Years ago there was a stigma for boys to do ballet, girls to do football. It feels like we're moving away from all that and encouraging all children to do whatever hobbies they want. I have no desire for my son to do any kind of male only hobby and wouldn't feel that way about a daughter either. As long as everyone is safe.

Nah… that comment about nuance and it being complicated is your own prejudice showing through.

When sex matters, it matters. And when it matters, it is that pesky biological sex that is relevant and gender identity, a philosophical belief, is irrelevant to access.

When sex doesn’t matter, then gender identity still becomes irrelevant to whether a person accesses that provision unless it is specifically for someone with a transgender identity. Then it does become important, as it should be.

Your claims on this thread have not been backed by evidence at all.

Would you like to suggest any other group’s philosophical belief about themselves that doesn’t reflect material belief that should be prioritised above sex if that group demands it?

Would you like to suggest any other group’s philosophical belief about themselves that doesn’t reflect material reality that means that safeguarding principles should be ignored for them because they declare that they are no longer part of the group being excluded for safeguarding purposes?

Any other groups that you can think of? Or just this one group based on a philosophical belief that doesn’t reflect material reality?

Maaaate! Your spelling, tone, reliance on swears, arguments? You're well out of your depth on here. There are other places better suited.

Provide a birth certificate???

Oh dear…

I think the TRAs have jumped the duck with that one. Maybe they weren't confit peking into a feminist forum.

I though it was 140+ gender identities ?

Yup. It's what we use in schools if we need to verify identity, for example if a new pupil has moved from another area or country. In the latter case, we also have to see a passport. It's a safeguarding issue.

Keep it coming… these are gold

As always it's gratifying to see the TRA position set out so clearly.

What is a bigoted belief in this situation?

Yeah, the quality of debate's deteriorating as we get into the early hours! I'll leave others to laugh at the troll, and the troll to make our own arguments for us, bless him. Time to head off for me.

Mam, if you're the real deal and the parent of a trans-identifying kid - you really have been misled in at least some areas as to what most GC feminists think, and the complexities of supporting your kid. There are no easy answers here - I certainly don't have them - but really wide reading of different views is essential, so you can at least understand them in their true form, and not some distorted propagandist rubbish. Please do that for your kid. It can't be easy, and I wish you both all the best

I understand your reluctance.

I was wondering how old they are because your child sounds like they are approximately pre-teen age? As you say you've known them as a daughter longer than a son, I assume that means they have been trans identifying for more than half their life.

So that lead me to wonder what age you all started using female pronouns etc, because it sounds like that was from a very young age?

In all honesty I have a million and one questions but I didn't want to overwhelm you, I was going to ask about how it all came about if you felt able to share, but you've partly answered that already in the later part of your post. I only say partly because I'd love to ask a bunch more questions, but again don't want to overwhelm.

If you do answer, I'd be grateful as I'm quite interested in how families navigate very young children who say they want to be the opposite sex from the one they were born.

Edited to add, I hope it's abundantly clear that neither I, or anyone else in this post would ever wish harm or unfair discrimination on, or judge your child because they identify as trans.

Google now says there are no fixed number, as gender sits on a spectrum with infinite possibilities.

Yep…..OLTS at its finest. Hopefully no one reports these posts so that lurkers can see them.