From Girl Guides to the Women’s Institute, trans people are being told they don’t belong

I am not surprised by Tuesday’s announcement that Girl Guiding is now to exclude trans girls. Yesterday’s follow-on by the Women’s Institute does not shock.

No. Mostly, I am numb. Beyond shock. Beyond surprise. Beyond grief, even – although, for the trans girls and young women directly affected by this, who are now sundered from friends and social ties, I feel a deep and lasting sorrow.

I can only imagine what this means to a young trans woman, aged 14, 15 who finds herself singled out. Rejected. Informed, by implication, that she is bad, unwanted, un-normal.

There is a world of research telling us just how calamitous this can be. The beginnings of a spiral into a lifetime of depression, low self-esteem and even, self-abuse.

For older trans women – especially those who have watched ove