Two Girls Guide leaders who had opposed new “equality & diversity” rules which compel units to let transgender-identifying males share showers and other facilities with girls as young as five were expelled from the organization.
12 leaders had earlier signed an open letter warning that the new policy raised safeguarding concerns.
The open letter which started circulating in April read:
“We are parents and leaders who love girlguiding and the female-only space it provides.
The current transgender policy of Girlguiding UK (GGUK) compels units to accept boys who self-identify as girls for camping trips and other activities (“Gender-swap boys spark Guides revolt”, News, March 25). This poses safeguarding risks, reinforces gender stereotypes and denies informed parental consent. A boy who identifies as a girl is still legally and physically male. Trans inclusion, while laudable, must not sacrifice the safety, privacy or inclusion of girls.
Male children who identify as girls can share sleeping and washing facilities with females. It is estimated that 65,000 cases of child sexual abuse are committed by other children and young people each year. Most perpetrators are male, most victims are female. Segregating by sex, regardless of gender identity, is common sense.
Leaders are banned from disclosing to parents that their daughters could be in mixed-sex accommodation, contravening GGUK’s own policy of informed consent.
Girls who identify as boys are expected to leave. This disproportionately affects lesbian girls, who are most likely to experience gender confusion, and are impacted when they most need support.
If being a Guide is now based on an “inner sense” of being a girl, girlhood itself is reduced to feeling, looking or behaving “like a girl”, which reinforces stereotypes.
This policy breaches equality law. We call on GGUK to suspend it pending an independent review. Girls matter, biological sex matters, and the law agrees.”
Girlguiding UK removed two of its signatories after the open letter gained traction, closing down their units, and has launched disciplinary investigations into “at least five Guide leaders”, according to the Sunday Times.
Girlguiding UK adopted the ideology of transgenderism and “gender fluidity” last year and changed its policies, which apply to children aged from 5 to 25. The official Girl Guides website explains that “the use of gendered facilities, such as toilets and showers, can be a cause of anxiety in trans young people. Members are entitled to use the facilities of the gender that they self-identify as.”
It also says “young trans members should be able to share accommodation with other young members if they wish”, adding: “A person does not have to disclose to you if they are trans. If they do, you should respect their confidentiality.”
The Sunday Times reported:
“Dozens of children face disappointment because there is no one else to run the units. The expelled leaders say they will take legal action against Girlguiding if their removals are upheld.
Helen Watts, one of 12 leaders who signed a letter to The Sunday Times in April asking for a review of the policy, was told on Friday that her membership was being terminated after more than 15 years with the Guides.
At least one other signatory, based in the northwest of England, was expelled. Documents seen by The Sunday Times suggest disciplinary investigations have been launched against at least five Guide leaders.
Watts, the leader of a Rainbows unit for girls aged 5 to 7 in Ealing, west London, said: “I am very upset and I am also really angry. We had some serious concerns about a policy that ignored basic safeguarding principles.””