Girlguiding UK Policy Change on Transgender Members

Inner Temple Library Current Awareness

Published March 24th, 2026

Detected March 26th, 2026

Summary

Girlguiding UK has announced new rules requiring transgender girls and women to leave the organization by September 2026, following a supreme court ruling. The organization states this is to operate lawfully, despite its unchanged values of inclusion. This decision has led to protests and resignations from some volunteers.

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What changed

Girlguiding UK has issued new guidance requiring transgender girls and women to leave the organization by September 6, 2026. This policy change comes after a supreme court ruling last year and affects current members and volunteer roles designated for women only. The organization asserts that while its core values of dignity, respect, and inclusion remain, it must now operate within legal responsibilities, which they interpret as necessitating this exclusion.

This announcement has generated significant backlash from advocacy groups and within the organization itself. Protests are being planned, and some volunteers have expressed devastation and are considering resignation. Concerns have also been raised about the potential for increased public scrutiny or abuse towards young members wearing their uniforms. The decision highlights a conflict between organizational values and perceived legal obligations, creating a challenging compliance and public relations situation for Girlguiding UK.

What to do next

Review internal policies regarding membership and volunteer eligibility in light of the Girlguiding UK decision.
Assess potential impact on any UK-based operations or partnerships that involve youth organizations.
Monitor legal interpretations of the supreme court ruling and its application to similar organizations.

Source document (simplified)

A junior Girlguiding member displays some of the achievement badges on her uniform. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Guides

Girlguiding gives trans girls and women until September to leave UK organisation

Youth organisation says its belief in ‘dignity, respect and inclusion’ is unchanged but it ‘must operate lawfully’

Jessica Murray Social affairs correspondent

Tue 24 Mar 2026 12.42 EDT

First published on Tue 24 Mar 2026 12.12 EDT

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Transgender girls and women who are part of Girlguiding groups in the UK have been given until September to leave the organisation, under new rules introduced after the supreme court ruling on gender last year.

In an announcement on Tuesday, Girlguiding said current members who were trans girls or trans young women could stay until 6 September 2026, at which point they would have to leave.

The rule applies to young members and to volunteer roles that are open to women only. Trans boys and trans men, and non-binary people assigned female at birth, are not affected.

Girlguiding said the date had been chosen “to give as much notice as possible” and so that all current members could take part in summer holiday activities.

In a statement, the Girlguiding chair, Denise Wilson, the chief guide, Tracy Foster, and the chief executive, Felicity Oswald, said the organisation’s values and beliefs had not changed, but they “must operate lawfully” and that “living by our values cannot change our legal responsibilities”.

A march in support of trans rights in London after the supreme court ruling in April last year. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Sopa Images/Shutterstock

The advocacy group Trans+ Solidarity Alliance said: “Inclusive organisations being bullied into excluding people against their will is a profound failure of this government to live up to its promises to the trans community. This news will be heartbreaking for the children and volunteer leaders that hold Girlguiding together, to fix a problem that doesn’t exist without anti-trans lawfare.”

Girlguiding volunteer, Lily, 28, said many people were feeling “devastation” at the news and a number were talking about resigning from their roles.

“This is supposed to be a safe space for all girls and women, so there’s a complete sense of loss and betrayal,” she said. “When you can’t be proud to be part of an organisation, you no longer want to be a part of it.”

A number of volunteers have joined the Guiders Against Trans Exclusion group to protest against the changes, and are planning demonstrations across the country. Some of those involved, many of them teenagers, said they had been subjected to abuse online after videos were shared of them making protest signs.

There was also growing concern about whether young people would attract attention or abuse when wearing their Girlguiding uniforms in public following the news.

“It has become absolutely toxic. The abuse that has been directed towards teenage girls is genuinely terrifying,” said Lily, who has been part of the organisation since age seven. “The safe space that Girlguiding once provided has just been decimated.”

In December, Girlguiding announced that trans girls would no longer be allowed to join, but did not reveal any immediate changes for current members.

It followed the supreme court ruling in April 2025, which stated that “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act referred only to a biological woman and to biological sex, with significant ramifications for trans women’s access to services and spaces reserved for women.

Other organisations have taken similar steps as a result of the ruling. The Women’s Institute said it would no longer accept transgender women as members from April, with its chief executive saying the decision was made with the “utmost regret and sadness” but there was “no other choice”.

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Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at the sex-based rights charity Sex Matters, said: “Requiring trans-identifying boys to leave is no doubt difficult for Girlguiding, but it is the right thing to do. This news will come as a relief to many girls and their parents, who greatly value single-sex provision. Sex Matters has heard from a number of them.

“But it’s important to remember that it will be difficult and distressing for the boys who were wrongly told by the adults around them that claiming to be girls made it OK for them to be in girl-only spaces. It never was.”

Girlguiding had already been facing legal action over its policy to allow transgender girls to join as members, which has been its policy since 2018.

The organisation has approximately 300,000 young members **** aged between four and 18 across its Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers groups, supported by almost 80,000 volunteers, in the UK.

“Although our membership approach has changed, our belief in dignity, respect and inclusion has not. We will continue to work towards a fairer, more equal world for every girl,” Girlguiding leaders said.

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