Health & Fitness
Double Your Cookie Order
The Girl Scouts have recently stood up for diversity. It's time to stand up for the Girl Scouts. Let's prove that Swampscott really is a "No Place for Hate" community.
I have always been fond of the Girl Scouts. My wife was both a Brownie and a Girl Scout and my two daughters as well (with their mother serving as leader). Recently, the Girl Scouts solidified my estimation of them by taking a positive stance for diversity.
On the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, a California teenager is calling for a boycott of the organization’s famous cookies. Her complaint: the Girl Scouts admitted a 7-year-old transgender child to a Colorado troop in November.
Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
It is not the first time the issue has garnered complaints. Three Girl Scout troops at a Christian school in Louisiana disbanded in protest in December.
Identified only as Taylor, 14, from Ventura County, Calif., the teenager appears in a You Tube video in which she charges the Girl Scouts with spending money from cookie sales in “promoting the desires of a small handful of people.”
Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“Right now, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. ... is not being honest with us girls, its troops, its leaders, its parents or the American public,” Taylor, who wears a Girl Scout sash, says in the video. “Girl Scouts describes itself as an all-girl experience. With that label, families trust that the girls will be in an environment that is not only nurturing and sensitive to girls' needs, but also safe for girls.”
The video was released by a Houston-based group made up of Girl Scout volunteers called the “Honest Girl Scouts”.
In response, Michelle Tompkins, a national Girl Scouts spokeswoman, said the organization “prided itself on being an inclusive organization serving girls from all walks of life”
“We handle cases involving transgender children on a case by case basis with a focus on ensuring the welfare and best interests of the child in question and the other girls in the troop as our highest priority,” she said. The spokeswoman also said that the Girl Scout Cookie Program’s proceeds “stay in the local market and are used to fund programs for girls.”
Reading this, I immediately emailed my neighborly girl scout and told her to double my cookie order. I hope you will do the same. If you haven’t bought cookies this year, you can do so by contacting “Swampscott’s Cookie Lady” @ knygren01@gmail.com
Let's show the world that Swampscott really is a "No Place for Hate" community.
Girl Scouts, you made me proud again!
