Trans girls will no longer be able to join Girlguiding, the organisation has announced, saying it has made the decision after seeking legal advice as a result of the supreme court ruling on gender earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Girlguiding on Tuesday said: \u201cTrans girls and young women, and others not recorded female at birth, will no longer be able to join Girlguiding as new young members\u201d.<\/p>\n
A statement from the organisation\u2019s chair of trustees, Denise Wilson, chief executive, Felicity Oswald, and chief guide, Tracy Foster, said: \u201cFollowing April\u2019s supreme court ruling relating to sex and gender, many organisations across the country have been facing complex decisions about what it means for girls and women and for the wider communities affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members and Girlguiding\u2019s council, the board of trustees for 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
It added that Girlguiding \u201cbelieved strongly in inclusion\u201d and would continue to support young people and adults in marginalised groups through a new taskforce.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile 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,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/p>\n
It is understood there will be no immediate changes for current members, and that no volunteers \u2013 who can be any gender, although some roles are only open to women \u2013 will have to leave the organisation.<\/p>\n
Girlguiding had been facing legal action from a parent over its policy allowing transgender girls to join as members and trans women to volunteer in roles reserved for women, claiming it \u201cexposes girls to harassment\u201d, the Times reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Its policy allowing trans members was introduced to some criticism in 2018<\/a>, but Girlguiding defended its decision by saying: \u201cSimply being transgender does not make someone more of a safeguarding risk than any other person.\u201d<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n