Girl Guides Victoria to allow boys who identify as girls to join

GIRL Guides Victoria will let boys who identify as girls to be members, sharing sleeping and bathroom facilities with girls. Parents whose daughters don’t want to share with a transgender girl are told by the group it’s “a form of discrimination”.

GIRL Guides Victoria now allow boys who identify as girls to be members and share sleeping and bathroom facilities with girls.

A new diversity and inclusion policy means boys who have a female gender identity, or who are transitioning to be a girl, are able to be Girl Guides.

The historic organisation, which has been staunchly female-only for more than 100 years, still maintains only girls and women can be members.

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However, it now defines “girl” in terms of gender identity rather than biology. This includes “persons who identify as, and live their lives as, ­females”.

“If you identify as a girl that’s it. You are welcome at Girl Guides,” Girl Guides Victoria CEO Amanda Kelly said.

The policy means biological males who have a female gender identity are able to be a Girl Guide, but biological females who have a male gender identity may not.

It states that as an all-female organisation, Girl Guides “are no longer the right place for members who have transitioned to male” and “are not the right places for members who identify as other than female”.

The policy, which covers girls as young as five, has already been ratified by the board. “It’s not a big deal, it’s more of an explanation of what we already do,” Ms Kelly said.

The policy states the process of “supporting and empowering girls and women, necessarily includes support for the inclusion of transgender girls and women”.

Girl Guides Victoria has been staunchly female-only for more than 100 years.

Ms Kelly said, to her knowledge, “there are three girls who used to have a gender identity as a boy and who have been living in the community as girls” in Girl Guides Victoria.

“There might be more as people don’t have to disclose. In one case, the girl has not disclosed that she has changed identity and we facilitated that.

“In another case, the girl was happy to talk about her transition and another has been talking to us for a number of years about living in the community as a girl.”

But Victoria Girl Guides do not accept those who are “non-binary/neutral/gender fluid” because it is an “explicitly female organisation”.

The policy guidelines say any child, including transgender girls, “may use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender” and sleep in the same area as other members.

Parents whose daughters don’t want to share with a transgender girl are told this is “a form of discrimination”.

“Advise the parent that you expect all girls to behave in respectful and appropriate ways,” the guidelines say.

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kristen Hilton said she welcomed policies “that are proactive in supporting diversity and removing barriers to inclusion”.

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