Transgender Burlesque Performer Sat on Girlguiding Panel Shaping Future of Girl Guides

An investigation by the Mail on Sunday claims that, despite last April’s Supreme Court ruling that sex in equality law refers to biological sex, the organisation’s leaders are still in thrall to the trans rights movement. Here’s an excerpt:

Dancing on stage in knee-high boots, PVC underwear and posing provocatively with a riding crop, Paula Southin, a transgender activist, performs an erotic routine using the stage name Violette Hue in a lewd online video.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Southin, who was born a man, is also a former Girl Guide leader and member of a key committee tasked with helping shape the future of the 116 year-old movement. 

Astonishingly, the 58 year-old amateur burlesque performer was one of at least four trans activists who were asked by Girlguiding – previously the Girl Guides Association – to explore opportunities for trans girls and trans women to be “supported” by the organisation.

Girlguiding was widely praised when it announced it would restrict membership to biological girls and young women following last April’s Supreme Court ruling that sex in equality law refers to biological sex. …

Insiders say the move has split the organisation, with powerful voices expressing pro-trans views behind the scenes and activists campaigning to overturn the ban.

Girlguiding itself launched a consultation last year involving around 500 people to explore how it can help trans girls and trans women, while insisting it was not attempting to reverse the ban.

The consultation was overseen by a panel of 16, including burlesque performer Southin, which met seven times between January and March. It discussed ideas for connecting with trans people, including “how possible, lawful and inclusive these ideas would be”….

Details of Southin’s role on the panel come as whistleblowers describe an atmosphere of intimidation from pro-trans colleagues at Girlguiding’s London headquarters …

One ex-employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said she realised shortly after joining that “gender-critical” views – the belief that there are two biological sexes and that sex cannot be changed – were “simply not welcome”.

She said Girlguiding’s ‘Head of Girl Experience’, Gemma Benton, believed that boys and men who identify as female should remain within the organisation, despite the Supreme Court ruling….

The whistleblower said she felt unable to express her views at work. “I just didn’t feel psychologically safe in that environment,” she said. “I had never experienced any organisation like it before.”

She recalls a junior manager effectively telling staff unhappy with the organisation’s approach to trans inclusion: “You’ve all got to get on board or get out.”

“No one challenged it,” the former employee said. A second whistleblower, who still works for Girlguiding said: “It is essentially taken as a given within Girlguiding that trans women are women, so any discussion of biological reality is avoided. You simply wouldn’t test the water, as there would be no coming back from it.”

The Guides are yet to issue a report after its consultation about supporting trans girls and women. But some suggestions from those taking part have been published on its website.

They include “exploring how we might hold events, run activities or campaign” with trans people; making “changes to the way Girlguiding is run”; and exploring how to set up trans-friendly spaces or groups linked to the movement.

Worth reading in full.