Girl Scout Boycotts Cookie Sales Over Transgendered Scout

Before replying please remember that we are keeping emotions out of this! Them ain't fightin' words!

Note - she is not expressing the opinion of the Girl Scouts organization. These are her own thoughts.

The Facts

Ok. So we have here a young Girl Scout who is upset with the way the organization dealt with allowing transgendered youth into the organization. She is upset because she feels as though her privacy has been violated. Why? Isn't Girl Scouts all about having a safe, fun place to be with friends? She feels as though this has been taken away because the organization allows transgendered youth to be a part of Girl Scouts.

**What exactly does "transgendered" mean? Wikipedia says: Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles. Transgender is the state of one's "gender identity" (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching one's "assigned sex" (identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/genetic sex)**

So, in some Girl Scout groups there are children who are genetically male, but who live as female. In this particular case, the targeted transgender child is 7 years old. Seven! Grade 2!

"The Girl Scouts of Colorado has said that the transgender seven-year-old was admitted in October on the basis of gender identification. 'If a child is living as a girl, that’s good enough for us. We don’t require any proof of gender,' Rachelle Trujillo, vice-president for communications of the Girl Scouts of Colorado, is quoted as saying." (Taken from the Globe and Mail)

What I think

Before anyone rages on about how ignorant this 14-year-old girl is, let's stop and think for a sec. First off... she's 14. Where are these opinions coming from? I think that we are all born innocent and ready to accept and love... and I think she's scared because I have a feeling that she doesn't have any transgendered friends or has never met any children who don't understand why their brain and their body doesn't match.

Coming to her defense... technically, yes. There are "boys" in Girl Scouts, playing games, selling cookies, going camping... that doesn't seem right? I mean, 14-year-olds don't generally have sleepovers with the opposite sex. And goodness me, if I had a nickle for every time my mom warned me about what boys want... So I'm not surprised that she's scared by this prospect. But I think some of the scariness is from the unknown. What if other boys start using this as an excuse to come on sleep-away trips? What's important here is that the child is living as a girl. 

Now, I'm not transgendered so, like the girl in the video, I really can't relate to a transgendered child or youth. But, I'm pretty good at remembering what peer pressure was like in school. Pressure to be liked. To fit in. To not be made fun of, no matter what. I can't even imagine having to deal with my body and brain not being in synch on top of everything else. BUT, thank goodness. There's that one place you fit in. For me, it was on stage at a youth theatre. For this 7-year-old, it's Girl Scouts.

Finally - Shout out to Girl Scouts for doing what's right. That 7-year-old has a place where she feels safe and welcomed. Unless something changes soon, she's going to have to face a lot throughout her life. Having this support system is more important than I can put into words.

What do you think?

Alright! It's up to you! What do you think? Be kind - feel free to express your opinion but absolutely NO name calling towards anyone.

Stay Beautiful,

Lisa