Trans girls to be stopped from joining Girlguiding after Supreme Court ruling

Transgender girls will no longer be able to join Girlguiding, the organisation has said as it confirmed it will limit its membership to “girls and young women”.

The “difficult decision” comes almost eight months after the Supreme Court ruling, which said the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.

Girlguiding said that since the April ruling, it had undertaken “detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members”, its council and board of trustees.

It is understood that while the decision to restrict new membership is in place from Tuesday, there will not be immediate changes for current young members, with further information on that to be given next week.

Some adult volunteer roles – those which are designated specifically as female roles – will also be affected by the changes, Girlguiding said.

Members can range in age from four to 18 and there are currently around 300,000 across the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers groups within Girlguiding, as well as around 80,000 volunteers.

The organisation said it does not collect gender identity information on its members and therefore does not have numbers for how many might be affected by the rule change.

It insisted it remains “committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, particularly those from marginalised groups that have felt the biggest impact of this decision”.

A joint statement was published on Tuesday by Girlguiding’s chairwoman of trustees, Denise Wilson, its chief executive Felicity Oswald and its chief guide Tracy Foster.

It said the Supreme Court ruling meant “many organisations across the country have been facing complex decisions about what it means for girls and women and for the wider communities affected”.

The trio said that now “Girlguiding has reached the difficult decision that going forward membership of Girlguiding will be restricted to girls and young women, as defined in the Equality Act (2010).”

They added: “From today (December 2) trans girls and young women, and others not recorded female at birth, will no longer be able to join Girlguiding as new young members.

“Girlguiding believes strongly in inclusion, and we will continue to support young people and adults in marginalised groups. Over the next few months, we will explore potential ways to champion this value. A new task force will look at ways to do this, in partnership with members.

“While Girlguiding may feel a little different going forward, our core aims and principles will always endure and we remain committed to treating everyone with dignity and respect, particularly those from marginalised groups that have felt the biggest impact of this decision.”