Friday, January 13, 2012

Girl Scout Promotes Cookie Boycott

A Girl Scout in California is calling for a boycott of Girl Scout Cookies because a Colorado council allowed a 7-year-old transgender child to join a troop. Her video calling for the boycott has stirred up the expected controversy among LGBT activists.

As a former Girl Scout leader, I feel I can speak to her concerns. As a friend to my former Girl Scout and transman, I have a little more insight to this issue as well. She goes on and on about how unsafe this precedent is and how having adolscent boys in all-girl troops would be a violation of Girl Scouts own safety rules. First of all, she needs to get her pronouns and terminology correct. The child in question in Colorado, and any transgender youth who joins GSUSA, is not a boy. She is a girl and as such would benefit from being in Girl Scouts for all of the same reasons any other girl would. Secondly, the child in question is 7 and unlikely to present a clear and eminent danger to her fellow scouts.

The information she quotes from is factual. GSUSA did perform a study several years ago about the benefits of an all girl organization. Their findings are every bit as true for a transgirl as they are for any other. Perhaps, even more true. Being around other girls as she attempts to form her own identity as a girl can only be beneficial for that 7-year-old. Her fellow scouts will benefit as well.

The California scout is not only concerned about the introduction of transgender youth to Girl Scouts, she feels strongly that GSUSA should break their ties with WAGGGS (the international scouting organization) because of their ties with Planned Parenthood and that GSUSA should do away with their sex education program.

Clearly this girl has drunk the kool-aid.

Planned Parenthood does far more that provide abortions. Far more. Far, far more. In fact abortion services are just a tiny fraction of what they do. But after listenting to this girl and looking at her website, it's clear that's what her motiviation is all about. As far as the sec education materials that GSUSA has available, the thing to remember is that are not required. They're available for troops who decided to use them, they are geared towards older girls and they are NOT required for any badges, awards or other recognition. In other words, if this girl and her troop find them so reprehensible, they don't have to use them. However, other troops might not have the same outlook. They should be able to use them.

Here's really what I want to say to this girl and the adults who taught her to hate:

Did you just join up and not do any kind of research at all?

Did you think Girl Scouts was just camping and cookies?

Have you been living under rock for the last decade? Were you truly not aware that GSUSA is a progressive organziation and is not simply Boy Scouts for girls?

If you want your daughter in an organization that is primed to keep her barefoot and pregnant, teach her to be subservient and that sex is bad, then Girl Scouts is NOT the organization for you. Girl Scouts is all about teaching girls to be independent, caring, active members of society who think for themselves and are proud of who they are. Girl Scouts promotes girls and women's rights. If that's not what you want for your daughter, then find another group for her to join. But don't be surprised when Girl Scouts tries to keep up with the times.

And leaves you in the dust.