Protests galore!

It has been 7 weeks since Girlguiding’s decision, and in that time we have organised 6 protests! These were Sheffield, Edinburgh and London in December, and Birmingham, Cardiff and Manchester in January. 

We’ve been really amazed by the turn out for these protests, with 150 people at the London one alone. Given the cold weather and the very short notice for December events, this is amazing! We even had people out in the snow in Birmingham. It was lovely to come together in support of the trans community to share testimonies, speeches and poems, and to sing campfire songs and chants.

This has also led to us being featured across many news sites, including being shown on tv! We are grateful to our supporters such as Pink News and What The Trans?!, and at the other end of the scale, we did an excellent job of drowning out the reporter from GB News. Where have you seen us in the news? Share below!

We’ve seen some amazing signs and we love your creativity, including seeing drawings of our mascot, Reef. To see all of them, make sure you’re following gatecymru, gatemidlands and gatenwe as well as our main instagram page, GuidersAgainstTransExclusion. We’d love to see your pictures from the protests as well as any signs you’ve already made, or signs you want to bring to the next protests. 

We have had minimal counter protesters but plenty of public support. Girlguiding HQ in London was closed for the day, which just shows our impact. You have helped us really raise the profile of our movement and shown that members do not agree with this decision. We even got a mention during Girlguiding’s all members call on Wednesday!

So what’s next?

Well, we already have a good team of people thinking about our next wave of protests, which we expect to happen in March. We’ll be having a team debrief soon to make sure we’re ready for anything. We have had a lot of interest for more protests and are keeping a list of suggested places by region. The aim is to organise in cities with good public transport links and in impactful locations. 

In the meantime, yesterday marked one month until World Thinking Day, and we are excited to be sharing our 100 for 100 action campaign. This aligns with the 100th World Thinking Day, and we aim to complete 100 challenges 100 times in the next few weeks! These are based around our three action pillars: Speak Up, Show Up, Be Heard. These all put a focus on furthering our impact and working to reverse this harmful policy.

Whether you’ve been to protests or not, this campaign is open to everyone, including those outside of guiding. There is a whole range of activities, from making friendship bracelets to writing to the King. Check it out here on our website, as well as the pages for each action pillar, where you can find further information about each challenge. All your efforts can be submitted and counted via the 100 for 100 page.

These challenges can be completed yourself at home or with your unit. If you want more advice on how to talk to your units about this topic, check out our new handbook, Unlock the GATE! This provides information about the decision, how to prepare the leadership team and talk to young members, and shows how this can be linked into the Girlguiding programme. We’ve also written 6 activities you can do with young members! This is just our first edition, so keep your eyes peeled for more. 

Have you spotted our new badges? We have a whole set of 100 for 100 badges and we even have some protest badges in the works! We want to celebrate everyone’s involvement and how they’re helping our cause. Maybe you’ll be like our Events and Youth Engagement lead volunteer, who has 3 protests under their belt already. Celebrate speaking up, showing up and being heard by getting the badge set. Add this to a previous order for no extra shipping! 

If you have any suggestions for where we should protest next, drop them below! Or if you want to help organise one, send us an email at guidersagainsttransexclusion@gmail.com