"We expressly reject the concepts of gender identity, transgenderism, and gender as being meaningful to defining what a Woman or Girl is" (Pussy Church of Modern Witchcraft/facebook)

A church of anti-transgender witches has achieved tax-exempt status after being recognised by the US Government as a religious entity.

The Pussy Church of Modern Witchcraft (PCMW) explicitly states on its site that trans people are not welcome in its organisation.

It appears to have taken advantage of the Trump administration’s emphasis on religious liberty over minority rights, as shown by the establishment of a ‘religious freedom task force’.

This is the same government which last month was accused of targeting trans women by revoking their passports.

The Internal Revenue Service’s decision to allow the PCMW to define itself as a church means that the group, which is located in Maryland, doesn’t have to reveal the names of its donors, according to Forbes.

On its site, the church is described as “a congregation of adherents to our female born, lesbian-feminist-based religions beliefs and traditions.”

The explanation adds that “males are not permitted to participate, regardless of how they identify.

“We expressly reject the concepts of gender identity, transgenderism, and gender as being meaningful to defining what a Woman or Girl is.”

The group’s principles seem to align with those of the British anti-trans group which ‘hijacked’ the Pride in London parade last month.

Pride in London organisers issued an apology for the incident after the group was allowed to lead the Pride parade across much of its route bearing the sign “Transactivism erases lesbians” while distributing anti-trans leaflets.

Brighton Pride, the country’s largest LGBT Pride festival, which welcomed more than 300,000 attendees earlier this month, vowed that it would not let a similar incident happen during its parade – but in fact, the event went one better.

It allowed activists called #LWithTheT – a direct riposte to the radical anti-trans group’s #GetTheLOut hashtag – to lead the parade, and it was beautiful.

The group, which was made up of trans women, trans men, non-binary people, lesbians, bi people and gay men, led the crowd in chants of “Please know your history, trans women fought for me,” “We will not hide, trans women started Pride” and “Keep the L with the T, you can’t break the community.”

Some attendees in the audience reportedly burst into tears at the sight of a pro-trans group leading the parade after years of rhetorical and physical attacks against trans people.

Jules Guaitamacchi, who was marching in the group, told PinkNews that the movement was established “in response to the events that took place during London Pride, when a group of anti-trans lesbians hijacked the parade and spread messages of hate and discrimination.

“When the news hit all the major headlines, trans people all over the world were completely hurt and devastated.

“We immediately got in touch with Brighton Pride highlighting the importance of supporting the transgender community at this time and they agreed for the #LwiththeT campaign to lead the parade.”