Girlguide, 10, ‘sad to leave my friends’ amid trans exclusion policy

Girlguiding announced this week that members who identify as female but whose birth sex is male must leave Girlguiding by early September.

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

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

Read more: Girlguides tell trans girls they must leave by early September

This week’s announcement followed a statement in December that transgender girls would no longer be able to join the organisation, as it confirmed it was limiting membership to “girls and young women”.

The policy changes – which include any trans girl or trans woman in a women-only volunteering role having to move to a position that is open to males or females – follow the April 2025 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 it had since undertaken “detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members”, its council and board of trustees.

Legal proceedings against Girlguiding had previously been initiated by a former unit leader who said she had expressed safeguarding concerns around the use of toilets, changing rooms and dormitories.

But the mother of a 10-year-old member, who identifies as a trans girl, said there are “pragmatic solutions to navigating risk” and there has been “no evidence of harm having been caused” by including trans members.

Angela, who did not want to give her surname to protect her daughter’s identity, said her 10-year-old had been “confused and sad” when they discussed the policy change.

Speaking to the Press Association, Angela, from the East of England, said: “I believe this will be the first of many obstacles in life for her.

“I just didn’t expect it to be at the hands of Girlguiding – that is what has been most shocking, because their foundation is rooted in inclusion and community.

“And then I think it’s so easy to get lost in this abstract argument that society wants to draw you into, and we lose focus on what is really happening here.

“We are telling children that they’re not welcome. That’s the bare bones of this decision.”

In a quote provided by Angela, her daughter, who is being called Sophie for the purposes of the interview, said: “The changes make me feel sad that I have to leave my friends.

“I really enjoy it and I don’t understand why I can’t be with them any more.”

Sophie has been in the Guides since late last year, having graduated from 18 months in the Brownies, and her mother said she had always been open to alternative arrangements where needed, such as sharing rooms.

Angela said: “I do think there are alternatives, absolutely. I also like to think that I’m realistic. Fair isn’t always equal, so what is fair might not be sleeping in the same dormitories, but fair would be to be included.

“And as I say, we’ve been within Girlguiding now for a number of years, and this has been managed.”

She said the decision taken by Girlguiding came amid “fear of legal repercussions – this isn’t off the back of any evidenced safeguarding risk”.

Angela added she had only met one other mother of a trans-identifying girl in the Guides in the five years her family has been involved with the organisation.

“I don’t think it’s a rife situation, as it may be reflected in media or society. We are talking about a minority within a minority.”

Campaign group Guiders Against Trans Exclusion (Gate) said there had been “hundreds of volunteer resignations, with over 400 signatures on the collective letter of intent to resign” after the policy change.

Gate added: “We expect this to rise in the coming days as many more debate their place in the organisation.”

Ex-unit leader Katie Alcock, a psychology lecturer at Lancaster University, initiated legal proceedings against Girlguiding when she was “kicked out” of the organisation in 2018.

Speaking in December, she told PA: “I said (before the policy change) I would follow any policy of Girlguiding as long as it didn’t conflict with safeguarding and they said this wasn’t acceptable.

“I was concerned men and boys would be in safeguarding-relevant situations such as changing for swimming, such as using toilets, such as sleeping in the same hall.”

She said Girlguiding had “been in denial” and “stalled” since the Supreme Court decision in April, and she was now “really pleased that girls will be able to have the clarity and safeguarding”, adding: “Girls deserve to have a space which is single-sex.”

Girlguiding has insisted it remains “committed to standing up for the rights, safety and dignity of girls and women, and to supporting marginalised communities, including LGBTQ+ people, to improve the lives of girls”.

It called for upcoming guidance on single-sex spaces, which was drafted by Britain’s rights watchdog the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and is being considered by Government, to be “clear, workable and informed by the voices of young people and volunteering organisations, to ensure that the wellbeing of all girls remains at its heart”.