Girlguiding has instructed its members that transgender girls must depart the organisation by early September. This directive follows a previous announcement in December, which stated that transgender girls would no longer be eligible to join, as the group confirmed it was limiting its membership to “girls and young women”.
Described by Girlguiding at the time as a “difficult decision”, it came almost eight months after the April 2025 Supreme Court ruling, which said the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
Girlguiding said that since that ruling, it had undertaken “detailed considerations, expert legal advice and input from senior members, young members”, its council and board of trustees.
In an update on Tuesday, the organisation said trans girls who are members can stay until September 6.
It added that any trans girl or trans woman who is currently volunteering in a role open to women only will be required to move by this date to a position that is open to male or females.
Campaign group Trans+ Solidarity Alliance described the news as “heartbreaking” for children.
They 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.”
In a statement, Girlguiding said the time between now and 6 September “allows affected members and their families time to plan, prepare, access support, and decide when – between now and September – they feel ready to leave”.
Members can range in age from four to 18 and there are currently around 300,000 across the Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers groups within Girlguiding, as well as around 80,000 volunteers.
The organisation has previously said it does not collect gender identity information on its members and therefore does not have numbers for how many might be affected by the rule change.
