UK Girl Guides and Brownies now open to transgender girls

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Pic: Girlguiding.org.uk

Girlguiding, the group behind the Girl Guides, Brownies and Rainbows in the UK, has announced that transgender girls are now welcome to join the organisation.

The move is a major change for Girlguiding which was launched in 1910 and previously only allowed members deemed to be girls at birth.

The group has published a new Equality and Diversity policy, in line with the UK’s equality legislation.

According to the guidelines, the various programmes are now open to all girls and young women between the ages of 5-25 regardless of their sexual orientation or gender reassignment.

“Girlguiding aims to support all girls and young women. This is understood in terms of the way a person self-identifies their gender identity – a person’s inner sense of self,” states the policy.

“If a child or young person self-identifies as a girl or young woman then they are able to join any of our youth sections appropriate to their age.”

Julie Bentley, the organisation’s Chief Executive, commented that: “Girlguiding complies with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 which makes clear that organisations providing single-sex services such as Girlguiding should treat people according to their acquired gender.

“As such, and in line with our values of inclusion, we welcome any young person who self-identifies as a girl or young woman.”

Transgender women are now also allowed to become leaders in the organisation, without parents having to be informed, which has been met with outrage by some.

The Daily Mail used the news to perpetuate “trans panic” sensationalism, warning parents that any leader “who says they’re a woman” will be allowed to take part in girls’ sleepovers and that their girls would be “sharing toilet facilities with people born as boys”.

One “horrified” mother, Amanda Gracey, exclaimed: “It’s shocking that if there is a man who believes he is a woman leading the group, it is forbidden that parents should be informed, even on residential trips.”

“You might be in a situation with girls having to deal with menstruation going to a leader with no understanding at all,” she said.

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