To celebrate Trans+ History Week (4th - 10th May 2026), we are posting a trans icon each day on our region Instagram pages, so make sure to check them out! We will also be posting about the origins of Trans+ History Day tomorrow, 6th May. Today, we are also posting a collection of testimonies today from our community. Thank you to everyone who has sent theirs in.
I was a kid once
I was a kid once.
I was a kid who loved to climb trees,
You’d often find me with scrapes on my knees,
I was the only “girl” on my football team…
I was a kid once,
Wide-eyed, loud-voiced, unafraid to dream, of a world where I could simply be, me. Certain of myself in ways I didn’t yet have words for,
I knew I was different, deep in my core.
And when I tried to live as myself,
Not even to speak it, just to be it, I wasn’t heard,
I wasn’t seen,
I was an echo in a room full of answers to questions I didn’t know how to ask.
I was told who I was, before I ever had the chance to even say it out loud.
And they talk about chromosomes like they’ve got doctorates in biology,
Treating us like creatures pulled from pages of mythology,
Spitting out their hateful terminology Anything that props up or suits their ideology.
Well hear this:
Any policy that stands against true equality is an attack on their right to breathe.
Because no child should need armour just to be accepted.
No playground should be a battlefield of identity.
No policy a border to their right to be seen.
So, I stand here today for the kids who are told,
to shrink themselves into someone else’s mould,
for the kids who don’t fit into the first box they were given,
but are still forced to try for the comfort of those whose opinions have grown outdated for the modern world we are living in.
For the kids whose gender identity is spoken of,
before their talents, their laughter, their right to belong.
For the kids who are told “you can be anything”
And in the next breath “you can’t be a girl”.
I stand here for the girls who wear their uniform
With hope folded between each crease,
Who wants what every kid wants;
A place to grow,
A place to glow,
A place to go where the world finally says: “Come in. You’re one of us.”
We say:
Let kids play. Let kids stay. Let kids be.
So, we raise our voices
For every child whose truth is treated like a threat,
For every kid who deserves a world big enough, kind enough, open-minded enough,
To hold all of them.
We’re here to guide the guides.
To remind them who they are, is exactly who they’re meant to be.
And we will not be silent
Not now,
Not ever.
More testimonies from our community
As a Girlguiding peer educator for my county I have the pleasure of meeting so many inspiring young women and girls. Girls share their experiences with me and their units about the way that transphobia and other hatred affects their family, friends and classmates. I’m proud to have been able to facilitate a space that is inclusive, open and supportive to ALL girls, regardless of their assigned gender at birth. I’m so disappointed in Girlguiding’s announcement- for their involvement in excluding an already marginalised group further from society- and I’m now taking time to consider my place in the organisation that I grew up in.
Young Leader, Ranger, Peer Educator
On the 2nd of December 2025, I quit girlguiding after 20 years of service.
As a trans person, I no longer feel safe. I was not kicked out, but forced out for my gender identity.
I joined guiding at the age of 7 as a brownie, but I left as a strong, independant trans man. I was not a danger to the girls. I was not a political statement. I was simply Rabbit.
My rainbows were my life. When my rainbows started, most of them were quiet, shy and clinging to their adult but when they left the same night, they were laughing and shouting along with the others.
I would be doing my weekly shop in tesco and would hear ''Rabbit!'' being screemed from the next isle, a rainbow attatched to the voice. It was something I used to think was annoying, but it quickly turned into something that would make my day.
When I started to help at Brownies, it was like I was reliving my time as a Sprite. I used to wear my uniform with pride but when the announcement was made, I just felt shame.
I felt like id had my one love in life taken away from me, and im grieving. I never thought I would grieve losing something like guiding but here we are.
We were promised that trans people were welcome at guiding. We were promised we'd always be supported. This is not support and you dare to call yourselves allies?
Would you do this to your own children, or would you love them unconditionally?
I am an adult, I can deal with having my support system taken from me. But can a child? Who is going to explain to the young trans girls that they no longer have somewhere safe to go? You say current trans members are welcome, but for how long? How long until we're forced to ask them to leave.
I wish my goodbyes to guiding were on better terms, but they aren't. They're fueled by transphobia and fear.
I am no longer proud to be a guide, but I am proud to be trans and you cant take that away from me.
Leader / volunteer
My daughter is a Guide and is transgender. On the day the news broke, I had to sit down with her on our sofa and tell her that the organisation she loves had stopped girls like her from joining anymore.
We sat together and cried, my ten year old learning far earlier than she ever should have that your world can shut you out in seconds.
Being a ten year old trans girl takes an enormous amount of bravery and strength on a daily basis, and we have regularly used the previously trans-inclusive policies to help us in other areas of her life (such as school residentials).
Something that was so wonderful for us both has now been tainted with feelings of exclusion and otherness. All this talk of protecting women and girls, but who is protecting my girl?
Parent
I’m a Non-binary brownies and rainbow leader and I’m leaving GG because of this ruling and what it means for my community.
I don’t feel safe or comfortable within Girlguiding anymore and probably never will.
Girlguiding has turned their back on the trans community and excluded a group of vulnerable kids.
GG has been a part of my life since I was 7 and I feel lost and utterly heartbroken now. I feel I can’t be a part of this organisation when it’s harming the young members of my community.
Leader / volunteer
What can I do?
If you want to help us reverse this harmful policy change, there are lots of things you can do. The most important this week is voting for trans inclusive parties at the elections this week - check out our breakdown of party policies for Scotland and Wales.
We are at a key turning point with the new EHRC expected to be laid before Parliament next week: use the Good Law Project's or Trans+ Solidarity Alliance's email tools urging MPs to demand inclusive guidance. You can also contribute to a consultation on trans healthcare (deadline Sunday 10th May).
Check out GATE's resources page for links, letter templates and other ways to get involved, such as sending in your testimonies and thoughts for our collaboration with a Science Communicator preparing a lecture on the real science behind trans and intersex people. We also have some amazing community members fundraising for Mermaids, a charity who support trans youth and their families. Check out their team page!
Upcoming events in May:
- Show Up for Trans Inclusion craft event in Nottingham on Saturday 9th May
- Miles for Mermaids walk on Brownsea Island on Sunday 10th May
- Protest in Nottingham on Sunday 17th May, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia
We also have an upcoming campaign writing postcards to MPs, so feel free to check out our lovely postcard designs (colouring in or sister to all guides) if you want to be prepared!
Remember to pre-order your April protest badges and take part in our Pride badge competition by this Friday (8th)!
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