Eli (they/them) Mermaids Youth Advisory Panellist, Youth Engagement Volunteer, and lifelong Guider, explains why Girlguiding’s exclusion of trans girls and women is contradictory to the organisation’s message.

Girlguiding (previously The Guide Association), is a UK based youth organisation established in 1910. In 2026, the organisation consists of around 300,000 young members from the ages of 4-18.  Alongside this, an estimated 80,000 adult volunteers keep these groups running.

In the past, Girlguiding has been a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth. They have warmly welcomed trans and gender non-conforming individuals from all backgrounds. Whether this be a trans girl wanting to be a Guide, a trans man who wants to volunteer for the organisation he grew up in, or a gender non-conforming person who embraced being themselves and not conforming to stereotypes, like me.

Girlguiding encouraged trans and gender non-conforming members to ‘Guide with Pride’, and this is exactly what we did, up until the 2nd of December 2025. 

To be true to myself

No matter the unit or volunteer role you take on in Guiding, all members make their promise. The promise from Brownies upwards starts with; ‘I promise that I will do my best, to be true to myself and develop my beliefs.’ 

I started Guiding when I was about 5 years old, progressing through Rainbows, into Brownies, and eventually into Guides. I was always quite timid, but Guiding was a place where I could be myself free of judgement and could just have fun with my friends. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I aged out of Guides, and began to discover my identity, meaning I fell away from the association. This was, until 2023, when the units that I grew up in, fell into difficulty. Myself and my childhood best friend, who had gone through Rainbows and Brownies beside me, both decided to rejoin Girlguiding as young leaders to provide girls with the opportunities we had as children. 

3 years later, we are both still there, possibly having a bit too much fun for supposed adults, but still spending hours in the very hall that saw our friendship blossom. 

Girlguiding’s active stance for inclusion made me feel supported and safe. I am very open about my identity, but I never believed that this would come between me and my love for Guiding.

Girlguiding even released pride badges and published a true story to explain transness to young members, about a girl called Rainbow, who happened to be born a boy. (This beautiful story has since been removed from Girlguiding’s website, but thanks to Guiders Against Trans Exclusion, can be read here.) 

Their dedication to making every member feel included was a big motivator for me to complete my young leader’s qualification, and progress onto adult leadership. My identity is never questioned by members young or old – we are all part of one big family.

My Guides and Rangers simply see me as Eli, the frog-obsessed leader who always has a pocket full of fidget toys at the ready and rolls their eyes at the endless ‘six-seven’ jokes only to end up making one a few minutes later, much to the dismay of the other leaders in the room!

And although I will forever be grateful for the leaders and children who welcomed me into these units with open arms, be this as a child myself, or as a teenager, to say that I love Girlguiding at the moment would only be partially true. I love my units, and the community of Guiders who all want to come together for the greater good, but I do not love what occurred on the 2nd of December 2025, and all the pain that has followed. 

A good friend and a sister to all Guides. Sisterhood, or ‘Cis’-terhood?

In the summer of 2025, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 should be interpreted as ‘biological sex only’. In response to this, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) issued a draft Code of Practice as to how this ruling should be interpreted in law.

The most important, and missed, thing to note here is that neither the Supreme Court nor the EHRC holds the ability to change the law.

Since Girlguiding’s decision, an updated draft Code of Practice has been issued and will only be made law if passed by the UK Government.

After the first draft Code of Practice was issued, the Charity Commission stated that charities should not rush into excluding trans members, and should await specific statutory guidance. Despite this, the threat of a lawsuit from an opposing organisation meant that on the 2nd of December 2026, Girlguiding chose to change their EDI policy, to state that only those assigned female at birth should hold membership.

Under the Equality Act, exclusion must be ‘proportionate means to achieving a legitimate aim’. Girlguiding was faced with threat of legal action from opposing groups. Expert organisations such as the Trans Legal Clinic and the Good Law Project have identified that the law does not require trans exclusion. This is based on several grounds, including human rights considerations.

These are children and young people who just want to learn life skills, craft, sing, and be themselves amongst their friends. These are leaders who want to provide opportunities. Trans people aren’t, and never have been the threat, but Girlguiding will not listen to the testimonies, letters, emails, and responses from young members and volunteers who attest to this. 

Despite opening a taskforce in response to the backlash of this decision, however, instead of progress, further exclusion occurred. In March, Girlguiding sent out further updates to volunteers stating that all trans girls and women must leave the organisation by 6th September.

Girlguiding advises its leaders to make sure risk assessments are always accessible, so that anybody who asks, be this a commissioner, a parent, or a carer, can receive a copy. However, when the community requested the risk assessment that was made for this decision, we were told it isn’t available.

Furthermore, as Girlguiding doesn’t carry out any form of census for member demographics, there are no statistics of how many trans girls and women there actually are in the organisation, likely to be a very small statistic out of thousands of people. A statistic of individuals who have done nothing but be true to themselves.

To turn away from these members, to ignore voices of countless allies, does not demonstrate the sisterhood of Girlguiding. 

As leaders, we naturally ensure that everything we do is girl led. The girls choose activities, they decide what causes they want to fight for, and why. The programmes followed by girls across sections are based on what they said they wanted to learn. The uniform is what girls wanted to wear.  But this isn’t just our decision, it is Girlguiding policy, who are a girl-led organisation. 

So why are the voices of thousands of girls writing letters, sharing their stories, and opening their arms to inclusion being ignored?

‘Something for the girls’ – A deep history of protest

One of the biggest contradictions of this policy change is that it goes against everything Girlguiding as an organisation has ever taught and stood for.

In 1909, the first ever Boy Scout Rally was held at Crystal Palace, London. It was gate-crashed by over two thousand strong-willed girls, adorning handmade ‘Girl Scout’ uniforms, refusing to be excluded.  They demanded ‘something for the girls’ and kept their fight up until they were listened to. And in 1910, Agnes Baden Powell, the sister of Robert Baden Powell, who had founded the Boy Scouts 3 years prior, started the Guide Association.

Four years later, when the First World War began, the girl guides stepped up whilst boys and men were sent to fight.  Not only were these girls secret messengers for MI5, learning morse code and semaphore and relaying vital private information, they stood in as first aiders to injured civilians, ran soup kitchens and bomb shelters, were farmers during famine, seamstresses for soldiers, and when the war finally ended,16 members of Guiding were even invited to witness the signing of the treaty of Versailles. 

When the Second World War began, the Girl Guides once again stood up in support of their community and the Armed Forces. They fundraised for air ambulances, helped staff emergency boats on the Thames, and stood in as air raid messengers, looking after children in emergency shelters and singing songs during raids, doing everything they could to keep the community and the soldiers safe and lift spirits in immensely difficult times. 

In 1941, the RAF asked Guides to collect 11,000 cotton reels for the Royal Corps of Signals. Not knowing why, but determined to help, a week later, Guides had collectively gathered over 42,000 cotton reels. It was later discovered that these reels were being used by MI9 to send secret messages, maps, and even currencies, to prisoners of war trapped in German camps. 

In 1942, the Guide International Service was established, with the goal of training older Guiders for post war relief services. On VE Day 1945, the GIS were some of the first relief teams to enter Holland, crossing over into liberated territory only 6 hours after peace was declared.

Thunderation, a campfire song sung by Guides for decades, is a perfect representation of the determination that has been shown by Guides and sister organisations since the very beginning, and the powerful final line ‘when we work with determination, we create a sensation!’ has become the motto of the newly established group, Guiders Against Trans Exclusion, or GATE. 

GATE, solidarity, and further activism – A powerful force for good

Guiders Against Trans Exclusion, or GATE, was founded in December 2025 following Girlguiding UK’s choice to exclude transgender women and girls from the organisation.

Other guiding organisations that branched from the establishment of Girlguiding UK, like Girl Guides of Canada, the Girl Scouts, and WAGGGS, remain open to and inclusive for ALL girls, and are standing in solidarity with Guides of the UK. 

In addition, Scouts UK remains open to all genders and have shown tremendous allyship in the past and present. However, many people prefer the ‘girl only’ atmosphere of Guiding, and it is important that this remains an inclusive option to anybody who desires to be a part of the organisation, including people like me who may not identify with the term ‘girl’, but wish to stay in the community they grew up in.

My Call to Girlguiding

My plea to Girlguiding is this: you claim to be girl led. This is me, and hundreds of other members asking you to put that claim into action, and to remember the Guide Law.  Listen to the voices of members young and old, pleading for the inclusion we have all learnt to demonstrate. Let trans girls be sisters, friends, and Guide with pride.  

As a Rainbow, a Brownie, and a Guide, I learnt how to be kind and helpful, how to advocate for myself and others, and about including all girls, no matter their faith, background, or identity. 

As a young leader, and a leader in training, I have stood true to these teachings whilst helping to deliver the same programme to the guides of the new generation.

These girls are some of the most caring, compassionate, delightful people I have the privilege of knowing, and this fact would not change if one of them happened to be trans.

Five times across units, I have promised to; be true to myself, develop my beliefs, serve my community and help others, and I said I would never break this promise. 

This is me keeping it: trans girls are and always will be my sisters.