Over the past decade, as the UK anti-trans movement has moved from a fringe group to a well-funded project with ties to the heart of government, many groups and organisations have been forced to make concessions to this small but disproportionately powerful initiative. With the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, trans inclusion in women’s organisations was under greater threat than ever. However, it was still a shock to see two well-respected, previously vocally inclusive organisations, fold – not because they were forced to following a legal battle, but because of the mere threat of lawfare from the anti-trans ideologues.

In their statements, both Girlguiding and the Women’s Institute stressed that they were making the decision to exclude trans women and girls reluctantly, with the greatest regret and sadness. They assured their members and supporters that they were still completely committed to trans inclusion, and would be working to ensure that trans people would be included in every way they could – except, of course, by taking a stand against the threatened lawfare and fighting to allow their trans members to stay.

I am sure that the people behind these statements do feel regret and sadness. But, to borrow a phrase from the anti-trans movement, facts don’t care about your feelings – and the fact is, the boards and leadership of Girlguiding and the WI could have decided to fight this, and they didn’t. They knew this decision would be unpopular with their members (who I do not blame at all for the decisions their organisations made), and with the wider public, and they chose to do it nonetheless, because they were less afraid of their members and the public than they were of a tiny handful of bigots with a large amount of money and a few powerful friends.

While I’ve never been a member of the WI, I was a Brownie and Guide for many years of my childhood, and I count the memories amongst some of my happiest times. I am disgusted on a personal as well as political level that an organisation I cherished so much – an organisation that taught me to face challenges, do hard things, and always stand up for what is right – has given in to bullies. Yes, I know that the anti-trans movement has money, power, and the ability to drag court cases onto the national and even international stage in a way that is, frankly, terrifying. Which is why standing up to these cases should be the task of large, long-established and widely-respected organisations such as Girlguiding and the WI, instead of being left to much less powerful individuals. I find it deeply ironic that Girlguiding and the WI shied away from a fight that they could have won with hard work and dedicated fundraising – two things they are famous for.

The Supreme Court decision is being contested in court, as is the EHRC guidance, which has faced pushback even from the current transphobic Labour government, so ridiculous are its recommendations. Girlguiding and the WI could, at the very least, have waited for these legal developments to play out. Instead, they committed to trans exclusion, while expressing how very sad they were to do so. They obeyed in advance, a tactic that has never worked to appease groups that want to strip rights from others, and which always leads to said groups demanding more and more, knowing they have already primed their target for obedience. I have no doubt that the trans volunteers currently allowed to remain in Girlguiding, or the WI’s prospective trans-inclusive “sisterhood groups”, will be the anti-trans movement’s next target. Will Girlguiding and the WI stand up for trans rights then? It will be more difficult for them to do so – they’ve already given up crucial ground, conceded on a key point. What will they do to protect their cis women and girl members who “look trans” from being targeted, harassed, and having their right to be there questioned? If they had kept their trans-inclusive policies, they could have shut down prospective transvestigators immediately. Now, they will have to give them time and space to make their accusations, and find a way to give them their answers while also preserving the rights, privacy and dignity of the person they have accused – which is completely impossible.

Girlguiding and the WI could have taken a stand. They could have stuck to their principles and refused to sacrifice trans inclusion. They might have lost (although this was far from a foregone conclusion), but they would have kept their integrity. Now, it’s left to less powerful groups, with smaller networks and far fewer resources, to take up the fight. Fortunately, some will – because this is crucial. Standing up to bullies and bigots is the only thing that makes them stop. Yes, the anti-trans movement has money to burn – so we have to make sure they burn it. We have to make them fight for every inch, every ruling, every exclusion. Because, despite their power and resources, there are very, very few of them – something we can see clearly in the fact that the same names and faces keep turning up in every new “grassroots” group, and that their protests and demos can barely scrape together double figures on a good day. The fight against transphobia, and for the rights of *all* women and girls to be in community together, can and will be won – and I’m deeply disappointed that two organisations I respected will not be part of that.