One More Reason To Support Girl Scouts

  I have read, several times, about the discriminatory practices of the Boy Scouts of America.  Their rules require that you not be gay and that you believe in a god.  I don't believe they specify which god you must believe in, but you have to pick one.  They don't want girls, gays, or godless members.  They legally gained their right to discriminate in 2000 when long-time Boy Scout James Dale had his position as Assistant Scoutmaster and his registration revoked on the basis of his homosexuality.  He took the case to court and, based on their private, non-profit status, the BSA was allowed to claim "freedom of association" as their basis for discriminating legally.

  After reading George Takei's blog post today, I read through some of the comments.  One person claimed that the Girl Scouts discriminate also, which is totally and completely untrue.  She cited a transgender boy who was refused admittance.  When I looked it up, there was a very recent (January 2012) article about a transgender boy named Bobby Montoya who had recently joined the Girl Scouts.  He was, at first, denied acceptance by his local troops, however the Girl Scout organization intervened and, as a result, several troop leaders disbanded their troops and resigned in protest of allowing Bobby to be included.  A group called HonestGirlScouts.com apparently had a problem with this inclusion and made a YouTube video calling for a boycott of Girl Scout cookies. You can see clips of this video here, but the original was "removed by the user".  The Girl Scouts obviously do NOT describe themselves as an "all-girl experience".  If that were the case, then...there wouldn't be a case.  Watch this awesome video of support from some New Jersey Girl Scouts.

  I just wanted to make sure that everyone understands that the Girl Scouts are a truly all-inclusive organization.   They obviously support girls, even if they were born as boys.  Check out GirlScoutDads.com and see for yourself how all-inclusive they are.  It's a website run by a male Girl Scout leader.  I'm very proud to say that I was a Girl Scout for about 15 years and loved every minute.  This story gives me just one more reason to be PROUD to be a Girl Scout!