Girlguiding ditches trans-inclusive policy for new members

New membership of Girlguiding will be restricted to girls and young women, the organisation has announced.

Girlguiding’s Chair of Trustees Denise Wilson, CEO Felicity Oswald and Chief Guide Tracy Foster claimed the decision followed the Supreme Court ruling in April that the definition of a woman is determined by biology for the purposes of the Equality Act 2020.

They said the change in policy will not immediately affect current members and that most adult roles “are already open to all”.

Volte-face

The organisation’s Trustees said: “This is a decision we would have preferred not to make, and we know that this may be upsetting for members of our community.”

But welcoming the news, Sex Matters’ CEO Maya Forstater said: “Girlguiding is a charity for girls. It is as simple as that.”

In 2017, Girlguiding updated its ‘Supporting Trans Members’ guidance to state that biological males can use the toilets, changing rooms, tents and showers of their choice if they identify as girls, while leaders were also advised not to tell parents if their daughters will be required to share shower and sleeping facilities with boys.

Fair Play For Women, which argued the 2017 guidance compromised the safety of girls and breached equality law, celebrated the volte-face, declaring Guiding is “female-only once again”.

Legal challenge

Last month, a concerned parent launched legal action against Girlguiding over its transgender policy.

In a letter seen by The Times, the mother of a seven-year-old girl said it “creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment”.

“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.”

On the day of the announcement, Girlguiding’s lawyers informed the mother its client had “decided that the policy would be withdrawn and replaced by a new policy that states: ‘In line with the Equality Act 2010 definition, girl and woman refers to those who are biologically female (however they identify).’”

Trans ideology

In 2022, Girlguiding was criticised for sharing the story of a boy who claims to be a girl.

Its summer magazine included the account of the 7-year-old boy, whose parents said he identified “more with female characters, toys and books” when he was 18 months old.

The boy’s mother told the magazine how they worked to embrace him as he discovered his ‘true identity’.

The article sparked a social media backlash from parents, who said it was “dangerous nonsense” because biological sex cannot be changed.