Men can join the Girl Guides as leaders for the first time in its 107 year history – if they feel they have been born in the ‘wrong’ body.
New regulations say it would be unlawful to tell parents if their daughter is being looked after by a man identifying as a woman on overnight excursions.
The new Equality and Diversity Policy, which was sent to all leaders last week, has been slammed by parents and MPs.
Philip Hollobone MP said: “Sadly the result will be fewer girls joining the Girl Guides. There will be parents who won’t let their daughters join because of this change.”
Amanda Gracey, whose daughter recently joined Rainbows – a Girlguiding group for girls aged from five to seven – was horrified.
She said: “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.”
In 2015 Girlguiding UK published gender guidelines which allowed boys between the ages of 5 and 14 to join as members.
It stated: “If any young person identifies as female then they are able to join”.
It also advised that it was not “best practice” to tell parents if their daughter will share toilets or sleeping areas with boys who believe they are girls.
Commenting on the 2015 guidelines, Gracey added: “Every piece of safeguarding advice says you should provide separate sleeping and changing facilities for children of opposite sexes under the age of 18.”
Transsexualism – wanting to change physical sex because you feel you are ‘in the wrong body’ – has become an increasingly high-profile issue. People in the public eye have ‘changed their sex’, and the media normalises transsexualism. There has been a corresponding push for greater transsexual rights. This briefing introduces some of the issues at stake.