Boy Scouts? You mustn’t call them boys, leaders are told

SCOUT leaders have been told not to call youngsters ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ to avoid upsetting transgender children.

New guidance from the Scout Association warns leaders to use ‘gender-neutral’ language such as ‘everybody’ instead.

The document says children ‘as young as two years old can be diagnosed with gender dysphoria’, the belief that they are born the wrong sex.

It comes amid a wider trend for organisations to accommodate the needs of transgender people by changing how they refer to gender.

The guidelines warn leaders not to split up children by gender, saying ‘ special considerations’ will be needed for water-based activities such as swimming, and adds that those with gender dysphoria should be allowed to share sleeping quarters with those of the gender they identify with.

Conservative MP David Davies branded the document ‘ludicrous’, adding that it was ‘going to cause massive confusion’, but a spokesman for the Scout Association said the guidelines would help ‘create inclusive environments’.