Girlguiding faces legal action from parent over trans policy

[Misla]

Good. Well done that parent!

Charity is accused of failing to follow Supreme Court ruling on gender, leaving girls ‘exposed to harassment’

Girlguiding is facing legal action from a parent over its transgender policy which she claims discriminates against her seven-year-old daughter.

The claimant, who has asked to remain anonymous to protect her daughter’s identity, has alleged in a pre-action letter to Girlguiding that the organisation’s policy “exposes girls to harassment”.

Under the policy, trans girls — boys who identify as girls — are allowed to join Girlguiding, and trans women — adult males who identify as female — are permitted to undertake volunteer roles previously reserved for women.

“It constitutes and encourages unwanted conduct which violates their [girls’] dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment,” the correspondence said.

“This includes, but is not limited to: sharing toilets, showers or changing facilities with boys, contact sports with boys, and sharing accommodation with boys, all without their prior knowledge or consent.”

The letter goes on to point out that Girlguiding operates “as a charity for the benefit of girls and young women”.

Girlguiding faces legal action from parent over trans policy

"Transgirls" are boys so by wanting them to be able to join a girls group you are centering boys over girls

When I worked for a charity, my team were approached by Scouts to provide one of our services to their young people. Virtual meetings incuded meetings with their advisory panel - lots of trans identifyiing people on the panel, with trans flags in the background. So very similar I believe to Girl Guiding. It makes me alarmed how young children have their safeguarding completely ignored.

As its a letter before action, it might not proceed to legal action at all. Anyone know who the legal team are?

@SusannaSpiderHands I have seen this for myself first hand and I want to thank you and others for sticking with it through all this nonsense. I know it's a real dilemma, to be on the outside of the tent pissing in or vice versa, but I really hope time will show you were right to carry on when GG are forced to follow the law and can then make a relatively quick recovery from this bullshit. Thank you for everything you do for all our girls.

Girl Guiding portrays itself as a single sex organisation for females. It uses the exemptions for associations as detailed in the EQA2010 to restrict its membership to a single sex (female). But it is continuing to ignore the confirmation by the Supreme Court Judgement that single sex means biological sex by admitting males. While continuing to claim that they are 'girl only'. They have betrayed their own principles.

Many surveys of parents and girls in the units show that they wish GG to remain single sex. But it's not. So they are betraying girls for the feelings of boys. And you, in defending this, are centering boys at the expense of girls.

Your mention of lesbians, in an absurd attempt at conflation with the much higher sexual offending rates of males, is as offensive as it is predictable. Hence the bingo card.

The fact I'm having to explain this to ( I'm assuming) a grown adult is quite astonishing.

Good Lord. Who brought you up to believe that women and girls are nothing more than a resource for men and boys?

Support humans, denying their own name, space and feelings, just in order to validate the sex that you think is vastly more important.

Shocking, I know, but women and girls are human, and we operate independently. We're not just a service for males.

edited to add:

the only thing standing in the way is a broken ruling from the supreme court (which organisations have the freedom to interpret)

lol

The truth is that most trans girls (and they are in a very small minority) have probably been through hell in their journey to express their gender identity and are desperately in need of a safe girl-only space in which they can be their true selves and find some solace

Honestly. Sexism is so bloody ingrained, isn't it.

It's the usual misogynistic bullshite where women and girls are seen as nothing more than human shields, a resource to be utilized, validation support, support humans, non character players.

And being espoused by the organisation which used to celebrate girls. It's utterly shameful.

And not letting this one pass, either.

Men 98% of all sex crimes. Not women.

You're not just as likely to be the victim of a sex crime committed by a woman as a man.

And being espoused by the organisation which used to celebrate girls. It's utterly shameful.

It's positively Machiavellian.

An organisation set up to address the sexism inherent in society by forming a female only organisation, to help empower girls.

And the message they are sending is that we will even go as far as to break the bloody law, equality law no less, in order to make sure that you are providing a service to boys.

Even leaving out all the guff about feelings and marginalised boys and even not mentioning the risks to girls (and the lesbian comment is appalling).

Even with the best will in the world to be accepting and inclusive. The cold hard fact is that transgirls will still happily have sex with girls. It isn't practical or safe to accommodate them together, anyone who volunteers or works with teens knows this.

a series of haikus for Guiding as was

You used to be great.
A real sisterhood of Guides
Links across the world.

Girls being leaders,
Girls being celebrated
Inspirational.

But it didn't last,
Boys centred took precedence.
Never mind the girls.

I was a leader in Beavers and Cubs. I dislike the implication that we weren't a safe space for any child. The boys and girls I supported had fun and thrived and were definitely in a safe space.

Safeguarding isn't about individual people, tho, is it.

You don't base your safeguarding policy on one leader who says oh I'm fine.

I’m well aware of what the Supreme Court ruling says, and I’m also aware of what it doesn’t say. It clarified that “sex” in the Equality Act refers to biological sex for the purposes of that protected characteristic. It did not remove protection for trans people under the separate “gender reassignment” characteristic, nor did it make it unlawful for organisations to include trans people if they choose to.

That’s why Girlguiding and many other youth and community organisations are standing by their inclusive policies. They’re not “ignoring” the ruling; they’re interpreting it in line with the full Equality Act, which recognises more than one protected characteristic.

As for your point about “betrayal,” I see it differently. Girlguiding is, and always has been, about building confidence, belonging, and leadership skills for all girls — especially those who most need that support. Trans girls are not “boys in dresses”; they are children and young people navigating extraordinarily difficult social realities. Giving them access to a safe, affirming environment harms no one and helps them thrive.

Safeguarding applies equally to everyone, cis, trans, gay, straight and that’s exactly how it should be.

Girl Guides excludes boys (who don't identify as girls) on the basis of the single sex exemptions in the Equality Act. This means that to be compliant with the EA they must exclude boys who identify as girls or become a mixed sex organisation and let any boy join.

An organisation can't claim to be single sex and let some people of the opposite sex join

Trans girls are not boys. Anyone who has ever worked with trans young people knows this. They are people trying to move through the world and be accepted for who they are, not who others think they should be. They are a very small number of children who identify and live as girls, often at great personal cost. Girlguiding’s approach doesn’t remove anything from other girls, it simply makes sure that those few young people aren’t excluded from the same friendship, confidence and safety that Guiding does such an excellent job of providing.

Girlguiding can still be a girl-only organisation and include trans girls, because the Equality Act protects both sex and gender reassignment. Inclusion doesn’t need to erase anyone - we can widen the circle of care without anyone losing our if we just let go of such damaging rhetoric and transphobic views.

This would be one that would bring ALOT of sunshine if it gets to court. They will be able to highlight the role of the incredibly damaged Amy Challenor in the creation of the trans friendly policies. I think that could peak alot of people, when the understand that some, not all, but some of the most influential TRAs have got backgrounds that would have even the most laid back parent questioning why they have been allowed around kids

No, the ruling said that if you are using the single sex exemptions to make your organisation female only, then that is only for biological females.

You can't say it's female only, and then make it mixed sex.

You could include boys, if you want to, but you cannot then use the single six exemption. It has to be advertised as a mixed sex organisation, like the Scouts.

Among other things, what this means is you cannot allow boys to join an organisation that is just for girls, in order to validate their self perception. If they want to join, they can, but then so can every other boy.

It is not the job of women and young girls to sit around validating males by undermining their own organisations.

Trans girls are not boys

they are biological males. And that is the wording of the Supreme Court judgement. Biological males.

Humans can't change sex. Boys who identify as girls remain boys.

Sex and gender reassignment are seperate protected chararacteristics. The single sex exemptions in the EA are on the basis of sex only and are unaffected by the PC of GR.

Having the PC of GR does not give people the legal right to use single sex spaces of the opposite sex

What astonishes me reading these posts is the ongoing conflation of sexuality (and by that I don't mean genetic sex) and gender
No one is conflating sexuality and gender. Sexuality is irrelevant to this issue.

The truth is that most trans girls (and they are in a very small minority) have probably been through hell in their journey to express their gender identity and are desperately in need of a safe girl-only space in which they can be their true selves and find some solace away from the very same damaging patriarchal behaviour and mysogeny that the majority of posters on here are calling out.
They may be desperate to be in a girl-only space, but why should that mean that a girls-only organisation should welcome them in? Sometimes in life you can't have what you want.

Its simply is NOT the case that a boy would put on girls clothes and live his every day life as a GIRL just so that he could infiltrate female only spaces - that makes absolutely no sense!
Yet in your previous paragraph you said that trans girls (male children) are desperate to be in girl-only spaces.
Of course male children who are not "real" trans girls won't do it just to be in with the females for sexual kicks. I agree that argument (which no-one else here is making) makes no sense in prepubescent males. Adult males are another matter.

And what about lesbian leaders? Are we saying they shouldn't have access to female only spaces? No.
No one is saying that. Their sexuality is utterly irrelevant.

Because they've been through safeguarding checks - the same checks that a trans man or a cis man would go through.
Lesbians are welcome, not because they have been through checks, but because they are female, in a female-only organisation.

And queer girl-guides? What to do with them? Because that absolutely exists,
They can be whatever "gender" they like as long as they are biologically female.

but no-one seems to be worrying (quite rightly) about conduct in same sex spaces because there are standards that are upheld and safeguarding procedures in place to deal with issues and misconduct.
But these safeguarding standards are NOT being upheld if male teenagers are in sleeping tents, changing rooms, contact sports, etc. with females. Not only that, but it is being done in secret without informing all the parents.

We already have all of the tools, procedures and policies in place to welcome trans girls to girl-guiding
But we don't want males in a female only organisation.

, the only thing standing in the way is a broken ruling from the supreme court (which organisations have the freedom to interpret)
Factually incorrect

and, yes, I'm sorry to say it, but transphobia and utter ignorance surrounding trans-identity from the majority of people posting on this thread.
It is not transphobic to want female only organisations to remain female only. If you think that is transphobic, then it just shows you don't think females have the moral right to exclude males - utterly misogynistic of you.

Go ahead and shoot me down. I stand by the fact that trans-girls are amongst the bravest, most vulnerable and most maligned, abused girls in our society and they deserve our support, not our hate
It is irrelevant how vulnerable and maligned and abused the trans girls (male children) are. They still don't belong in female only organisations.

It is possible to feel desperately sad for these male children, horrified at how they have come to be in this situation, and still prioritise the female children's right to female spaces.

Absolute nonsense.

At least be honest that you're centring boys and girls are being used as validation tools.

Don't forget that Girl Guides wouldn't allow girls who identified as boys to join although I believe they have now changed that policy. That was unlawful discrimination based on the PC of GR

I don't know scouts at all, but I assume beavers and cubs are at the age where mixed sex activities are fine anyway . But I'd also assume different safeguarding will apply to older children. Scouting is presumably set up to be mixed sex, guiding isn't.