Girlguiding facing mass exodus after setting deadline for trans girls to quit

The parents of a six-year-old trans girl who tried to cut off her penis with plastic scissors after being told she couldn’t join Rainbows, the youngest Girlguiding group, have called the decision to ban trans girls “incredibly upsetting”.

Emily, which is not her real name, first asked about going to Rainbows in November 2025 as her friends were already members. She went to a taster session after her parents were told by the charity their daughter “would be treated like any other” child.

“She really felt included and absolutely enjoyed it… for the next couple of hours she wouldn’t stop talking about it,” Curt, her father, said.

Two weeks later, in December 2025, Girlguiding announced it was going to ban trans girls and women from joining the organisation as new members, a response to the UK supreme court’s April 2025 ruling that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

Curt was told the news by another parent – and had to break it to Emily that she couldn’t go back. “If I had known a few weeks before that’s what they were thinking about doing, I might have held off a bit and saved my daughter from the heartbreak,” Curt said.

Emily’s parents decided to be honest with their daughter about the situation, and explained to her that she was no longer able to take part in Rainbows because she was trans. A few hours later, Curt said they found her “sobbing in her room” and were “shocked” to find her holding a pair of plastic scissors to her penis.

“When I asked why she had done that, she said that if it wasn’t there, then she’d be allowed to join in,” Curt said. Emily’s friends have since left Rainbows in solidarity because of her exclusion and an adult volunteer at her local group also resigned.

Last week the charity, which represents more than 300,000 girls and has 80,000 volunteers, went one step further and said that trans girls and women will have to leave the organisation by 6 September 2026. The decision prompted a backlash among members.

Lily, 28, has been a member of the group for nearly 20 years. “It’s my social circle, it’s my home life, it’s my volunteer hours – it’s everything to me,” she said. But for the first time, she is considering leaving the organisation, a position she “never in a million years” thought she would be in.

With other members, she formed Guiders Against Trans Exclusion (Gate), a group intended to “make clear to Girlguiding  in the strongest possible terms that its membership does not support the policy”.

A collective letter of intent to resign from the organisation in light of the exclusion of trans members has now gathered more than 450 signatures from volunteers.

Lily believes this number is likely to rise, as volunteers she has spoken to described this week’s decision as “the last straw”. The Observer understands that a number of staff who work at Girlguiding headquarters have privately expressed support for Gate and its call to reverse the decision.

Trans girls have been allowed to join Girlguiding since 2017. In October 2025, a mother sent a letter to chief guide Tracy Foster on behalf of her seven-year-old daughter to “express her concerns” that the policy “posed safeguarding risks”.

The legal threat was supported by the prominent gender-critical group Sex Matters, a charity which has brought a number of high-profile claims against public bodies over their policies relating to transgender employees and members.

The mother who brought the claim said this week she was “very glad that Girlguiding have finally realised that their focus should be on girls and young women” but was disappointed she “had to threaten legal action for them to realise that girls have the right to spaces without boys, however they identify”.

Gate claims that this threat was the cause of the membership policy shift. Girlguiding said that the decision was “not the result of a single legal claim” and followed detailed consideration, expert legal advice and input from its members, council and board of trustees. It also stressed that the decision was “not reflective of any safeguarding concerns”.

A spokesperson for Girlguiding said: “Girlguiding exists to empower girls and young women, and help create a more equal world. Our values and beliefs have not changed. We remain committed to standing up for the rights, safety and dignity of girls and women, and to supporting marginalised communities, including LGBTQ+ people, to improve the lives of girls.”

Photograph by Andrea Domeniconi/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images