Transgender Guides can share showers at camp with girls

BOYS who identify as female can share showers, changing rooms and toilets with girls on Girl Guide camping trips, it was revealed yesterday.

Guide leaders have been issued with official advice saying transgender youngsters should be able to share accommodation such as tents or cabins on residential trips.

Leaders are not required to tell other children’s parents that a trans child is attending a camp, and were advised it was not ‘best practice’ for them to do so.

The advice was issued when Girlguiding UK announced it would accept trans members earlier this year, and applies to all members spanning from age five to 25.

But while the guidance was welcomed by equality groups, it caused consternation among some parents, who questioned if it left children vulnerable to abuse.

Critics added that the policy could leave girls, particularly those in their teens, feeling uncomfortable. A parent on the Mumsnet website wrote: ‘I truly pity the first girl to be sexually assaulted by a male girl guide because it appears that until something awful happens this insanity is going to carry on.’

The advice for Guide leaders said they should ensure trans members were included in all activities and residential trips.

It states: ‘Young trans members should be able to share accommodation with other young members if they wish. The use of gendered facilities, such as toilets, can cause anxiety. Members are entitled to use the facilities of the gender that they selfidentify as.’ The advice said any Guides who did not feel comfortable sharing facilities should be offered alternative options.

But it also told leaders it was against the law for them to reveal that any over-18 members were trans unless they had their permission, and added: ‘It is not a requirement – or best practice – to tell parents that a trans person will be attending a residential event.’ Feminist campaigner Julie Bindel told the Mail on Sunday: ‘The concern ... many feminists have about boys invading bedrooms, tents and showers is that disproportionately the victims of sexual violence are girls and women, and overwhelmingly, the perpetrators are boys and men. This signifies the end to girl-only space and the safety of girls in single-sex organisations.’

Girlguiding’s chief executive Julie Bentley said: ‘We welcome any young person who self-identifies as a girl or young woman.

‘If a young person doesn’t feel comfortable sharing accommodation ... more private areas for changing can be made available to any young member who requests it.’

GUIDE leaders who say grace before meals around the camp fire have been told to omit references to God to avoid offending non-Christians. The Girlguiding website advises that thanks or songs with ‘faithbased lyrics’, should be changed to avoid reference ‘to any particular god or faith’.