Thank you for subscribing!
Hundreds of volunteers have threatened to quit as the organisation returns to a female-only membership policy
Pro-transgender protesters are set to descend on London as Girlguiding's ban on biological males comes into force.
From Sunday, membership of the organisation will be restricted to girls and young women whose sex at birth is female, meaning existing transgender participants will be required to leave.
Some volunteer roles will also be restricted to biological women, although other positions remain open to both sexes.
The policy change follows the landmark Supreme Court ruling in April 2025, which found that the words "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological woman and biological sex.
Girlguiding announced last December that it would restrict membership to "girls and young women" after taking legal advice following the judgment.
Ahead of the new rules taking effect, campaigners will gather in London on Saturday to protest against the exclusion of transgender members.
Guiders Against Trans Exclusion (Gate), which organised the demonstration, said that "letting trans girls continue to attend is the right thing to do".
A petition notifying Girlguiding's leadership of volunteers' intention to resign over the policy has gathered 500 signatures.
Gate claims thousands of young people could ultimately be affected if departing volunteers force units to close or camps to be cancelled.
However, other current and former volunteers have welcomed the return to a female-only membership policy.
Former unit leader Katie Alcock initiated legal proceedings against Girlguiding after she was “kicked out” of the organisation in 2018 after raising safeguarding concerns around toilets, changing rooms and dormitories.
Ms Alcock said: “I’m really pleased to see that Girlguiding is finally going back to being an organisation of and for girls. It’s vital for girls to have a female only space in today’s world of misogyny.”
LGBT - READ THE LATEST:
She described the change as a “win for safeguarding”, adding: “Men have always had a positive input in Guiding when we use effective safeguarding and we’re open about who they are.”
Gate said Girlguiding had been “subject to repeated legal acts, forcing them to exclude ‘trans girls and young women, and others not recorded female at birth'”.
The group said its protest would draw attention to “the wider impact of exclusion on trans youth, as well as the need to protect inclusive organisations and charities”.
Girlguiding has around 300,000 members aged between four and 18 across Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers, alongside roughly 80,000 volunteers.
The organisation said its “intention throughout is to act with kindness, care and respect” and that it had “worked to provide as much notice as possible to support affected members and their families”.
It has also established a taskforce exploring future opportunities for biological males to connect with and receive support from Girlguiding while operating within its equality and diversity policy.
A Girlguiding spokesman said: “The taskforce panel has finished conversations to explore future opportunities for trans girls and trans women to connect with and be supported by Girlguiding, while operating within our equality and diversity policy.
“The ideas that came from discussions are now being considered and we’ll update members as soon as we can.”
