Girlguiding - WIN!

[Elevenseconds]

Just received this fabulous message from Girlguiding - hurrah! The tone is peevish, but the result is what matters.

Slight pity that DD is leaving Brownies later this week - and I didn't encourage her to step up for Guides, partly because of their policies worrying me as she got older.

This is a really significant moment.

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.

I also think they should have clarified that biological girls who identify as trans will still be welcome.

That's a very grudging email

Now they need to issue an apology to all the leaders who felt they had no choice but to resign over this issue.

“Heavy heart” what absolute twats

But still trans volunteers allowed…

Yes it's the right outcome of course, but did they have to be so grudging about it? They make it very clear that they remain adherents to the gender ideology belief system and I'm afraid I would not encourage a daughter of mine to go to Guides without an acknowledgement that they were wrong to allow boys to attend in the first place.

Wow, the written equivalent of through gritted teeth.
Why are they so desperate to include boys I wonder?
Good decision but far too long in the making.

Who was it that fought the Guides on this years ago, Helen someone? One of the first women fighting back that I was aware of.

I wonder if they had a “special support team” in place for the volunteers who felt uncomfortable putting biological boys in girls’ tents.

Good news. Hopefully it might be part of a wider realisation in other organisations that the supreme Court ruling is the law.

I thought leaders had to be women? That doesn't seem to be specified any more on their website. Is this a change?

This is what I’m worried about too…

Yes. I would hope that now that they have accepted the reality of biological sex after a few years of madness of using self-identified gender instead they will now treat trans-identified male volunteers in the same way as all the other male volunteers, i.e. not sharing female accommodation at camp.

Is it possible the tide really is turning at last?

DD’s Brownies has a male leader (married to Brown Owl). He is lovely but of course on trips away stays in separate accommodation. Surely they must now treat all biological men the same way (and of course should have from the beginning).

They’ve still got utter shite like this on their website though.

As per our Royal Charter, we uphold our promise to support all girls and young women including trans girls and young women.
In line with our values of inclusion and changing as the lives of girls change, it’s important that we welcome trans girls and women. Our UK-wide annual survey into the views of girls and young women, the Girls’ Attitudes Survey, helps us to understand the changing lives of girls today. It found that 86% of girls and young women aged 11-21 believe people should not be discriminated against because they are transgender.
As a girl-only organisation with a trans-inclusive Equality and diversity policy, we treat trans girls and women according to the gender they have transitioned, or are proposing to transition, to. Meaning trans girls and trans women are welcome to be a part of our great charity.
The benefits to Girlguiding of being fully-inclusive are significant. We recognise the huge impact Girlguiding can have on each young member and volunteer. And it’s vital that trans girls and women – like all other girls and women – can contribute their experiences, time, commitment and skills to our charity.
Our volunteers and staff must make every effort to bring all our members together in a safe space where they can learn from each other and have a positive experience of guiding.
We will support our leaders, volunteers, young members and parents on a case-by-case basis to ensure a bespoke approach to including our trans members.
Balancing the needs and interests of different members is key to making Girlguiding an inclusive and safe space. We support our volunteers to lead and manage different situations where they need to uphold the requirements of our Equality and diversity policy, while balancing the interests of all our members.
Our trans-inclusive Equality and diversity policy and practice are underpinned by the law. See our What the law says page for a basic summary of the key laws that apply and what they say

I've just received that email too, and laughed out loud at the tone (although was somewhat irritated by the assumption I would share their views). It has taken them long enough to consider the ruddy judgment though - smacks of internal fighting and pushing back repeatedly on the legal advice (I wonder how many firms were approached for a second/third/fourth opinion?)

I had a quick look at the website and it doesn't look like they have updated their policies there yet?

Fantastic news. Now they need to clarify whether trans volunteers are classed as their biological sex when it comes to sleeping arrangements etc.

I'm sure I read recently that a parent was suing them for not upholding the Supreme Court judgement - I wonder if that expedited their decision-making. 😂Though really, the threat of fiscal loss should not be the motivation for sensible safeguarding arrangements.

I'm sure their website changes will follow.

I mean, give them more than 19 minutes to update the website maybe :)

I am absolutely delighted! My heart is not in the least heavy! Just fantastic news for all the girls who are members now and who will join in the future.

Ah - here we go: https://archive.is/mtYdY

Just got the email and came here to celebrate. I think I will send a ‘well done’ email to their ‘heavy hearted’ well-being email address. I do understand the tone in the sense of this is real young, troubled boys, who will be getting chucked out and that is really hard. But they should never have put those boys in that position in the first place, they should be apologising to them.

The tone is ridiculous and the stuff about volunteers is deliberately vague imo.

male volunteers can hold the titles they reference and this is not a change - these volunteers have to have seperate sleeping/bathroom arrangements if they are male (so one would assume this will extend to trans volunteers).

It is the volunteer roles ‘leader’ and ‘commissioner’ that have traditionally been reserved for women and if that changes it will be a significant one which I think would be deeply unpopular with the membership.

its possible transwomen are in these roles and they will have to step back into the more junior ‘open’ roles. This will mean they can no longer be in charge of unit meetings or camps/residentials etc…

My first port of call after just reading my email was this board! As the mum of a lesbian who has been “cancelled” for not being cool with dating someone with a penis, I’ve always tended to the GC. I’ve never had to deal with a trans issue within my Unit/District in 20 years but am super glad I will no longer face personal conflict in what I would have to do going forward.

https://www.reddit.com/r/transgenderUK/comments/1pc8kzd/girlguiding_banning_trans_members/

"Absolutely shameful, but also, I don't see the need for Girlguides to exist as an organisation to begin with.
There's no such thing as 'Boy' Scouts in the UK, the Scout Association is fully gender inclusive and doesn't exclude girls, boys or otherwise. Everybody is welcome to learn, socialise and take part in all aspects.
Why is there a gatekept 'girl only' version in the first place? Even setting aside this ridiculous trans ruling, it's past time to either integrate it fully into the Scouts making it fully accessible, or kick the whole organisation to the curb."

Written by a dude I think..