Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality

by Helen Joyce

Watts wonders whether Girl Guides has considered the consequences for personal care (her questions have gone unanswered). ‘How would you, or your five-year-old, feel about her being cleaned up after a toileting accident by a male who identifies as a woman, and you’re not even supposed to know?’ she asks. Watts also objects to leaders being told that conversations about gender identity can be confidential. ‘I understand the need for discretion and sensitivity,’ she says. ‘But that should apply just as much to the girls, whose interests Girl Guides is supposed to represent. Girl Guides is potentially putting teenage girls and boys in the same accommodation and not telling parents. All leaders have safeguarding training, and we learn never to agree to keep a secret. We’re keeping information from parents that might alter their decisions. It undermines trust, and builds a barrier between children and parents. It’s gaslighting on a massive scale.’