Girl Scout Launches Cookie Boycott Campaign After Organization's Inclusion Of Transgender Child (VIDEO)

A California-based teen is hoping to spearhead a national boycott of Girl Scout cookies after the organization's controversial decision to admit a 7-year-old transgender child to a Colorado troop this past fall.

The girl, which World News Daily has identified only as Taylor from Ventura County, Calif., appears in a YouTube video in which she claims her organization is using proceeds from sales of the popular cookies to "[promote] the desires of a small handful of people."

"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 claims to have been a Girl Scout for eight years, says in the clip. "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."

She goes on to note, "I am asking you to take action with me and boycott Girl Scout Cookies." The video eventually concludes with a tagline for the Honest Girl Scouts site, which describes itself as a group "concerned with the alarming choices GSUSA has been making," and "advocating for a change back to simply building girls of good character."

Last fall's decision to admit Bobby Montoya after initially excluding her has already been met with considerable controversy. In December, three Louisiana-based leaders resigned and dissolved their troops in the wake of the incident, with one calling it "an almost dangerous situation" for children, according to The Baptist Press.

At the time, the Girl Scouts of Colorado released a statement through the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), noting, "If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout."

After confessing to having difficulty switching from male to female pronouns when discussing her child, Montoya's mother Felisha Archuleta defended her daughter to ABC, saying, "I believe he was born in the wrong body...no one would know he's a boy unless they pulled his pants down."

Comments

[themiddleistheproblem]

12:05 PM on 05/17/2012

So this girl in California doesn't "feel safe" because there is a transgender kid somewhere in Colorado? This sounds more like some bored, bigoted parents trying to start a "movement" and collect lots of donations from other bigoted parents.

[Theddasapa]

06:57 PM on 03/05/2012

Instead of supporting this boycott, I will support the leadership of the Girl Scouts of America who chose to stand against discrimination, and who deserves to be rewarded for taking steps towards equality. And I will do so by purchasing cookies as gifts for friends, family, and me! And they will be the yummiest and most amazing support I will have ever given to an organization. :D

[IntNorbertCon]

06:40 PM on 02/20/2012

I knew this was coming, ever since Peter Brady became a Sunflower Girl.

[ditchqueen]

07:27 PM on 02/17/2012

I have nothing against LBGT people. I do have an issue with this though. This child is a Boy. He did not go through any procedure, nor does it seem as though he is on hormones (which by now they would have him on to surpress puberty) all the mom states is that he basicly likes to dress up as a girl. Well, my daughter likes baseball, to climb trees and wears pants. That doesn't make her transgenered! As a mom of six, I have seen many of my boy children play with dolls and yes even wore a dress or two, but that doesn't make them transgenered.
Boy scouts takes BOYS! They do not have a policy against any sexual identies, just that you are a boy.
I am tired of us as a society forceing our children to deal with adult issues because we are uncomfortable dealing with them. Girl scouts is for GIRLS! Girls need an outlet just for them. Because this boy is allowed to join does that mean the girls can't go on campout? How is that going to be handled? I would not feel comfortable with a boy in the bathroom with my daughter and at that age when the girls are so self consious as it is and don't like their peers seeing them, how are they going to feel about a boy in there? If he gets surgery then fine, let him join, until then he should be a boy scout.

[xrk9854]

04:20 AM on 02/24/2012

Wow, are you misinformed or what? She's only 7 years old so of course she's not on hormones. Medical intervention doesn't begin until after the start of puberty. You are not a gender expert or other medical authority. More likely you're just some rabble rouser from the "Heritage Scouts", or whatever they're called, here trying to stir the pot. Sorry, but most of aren't buying what you're selling. The 19th century called and they want you back.

[postfremenist]

04:44 PM on 02/25/2012

Good grief, why are you trying to sexualize this little girl? why would she need hormones? she hasn't hit puberty yet. she's not a woman, she's a GIRL. you know, a girl? a child? not an adult?? if you don't object to your daughter sharing a bathroom with girls, why would you object to her sharing a bathroom with this girl? she's a girl. just because she has a penis doesn't mean she's not a girl. she's no more likely to be interested in the contents of your daughter's pants than any other girl, in no small part because she's a GIRL CHILD.

the article doesn't say she's gay, so she's probably not even interested in your daughter? when she gets older, will you object to your daughter sharing a bathroom with sexually mature lesbian girls? pro tip: the answer here is to teach EVERYONE, boys and girls, gay and straight, to respect each other's bodies and privacy.

you can delete the part of your post where you say you "have nothing against LGBT people", because you have the most damaging thing of all against them: the tremendous inertia of your own massive cisgender privilege and unwillingness to give up the right to make people's identities for them.

[Matt Mirmak]

02:12 AM on 01/26/2012

I don't really understand what it means to be transgendered but I am learning more about it bit by bit and don't pass judgement on people who are transgendered. However, I do know what a jerk is and how delicious Girl Scout cookies are. The girl in the video, with coercion and pressure from her parents, is being a total jerk and not following the Girl Scout Promise and Law (I know, I have a 10 year old Girl Scout at home).

As far as those yummy cookies go, I would like to say that I know my daughter is going to be selling a ton of boxes this year to a lot of our friends who are a part of or ally themselves with the LGBT community. So that huge check that I was going to cut for her summer camp this year is going to be whittled down to pennies or be totally non-existent thanks to the girl on the now removed video who was calling for a boycott.

[emmalee]

08:58 PM on 01/25/2012

Girl Scouts, you and your parents should be EMBARRASSED! How dare you be prejudiced against anyone! Sounds to me you have more of a mental disability and is the one who should not be around any kids whatsoever!!!

[TrannyGirl]

07:38 PM on 01/24/2012

Modern scientific research has now shown that society is actually strengthened not weakened by universal acceptance of all of its members. Recently, the American Medical Association released peer reviewed findings changing the way the gay communities physical and mental health issues should be treated. The American Psychology Association has published similar findings and changed the Standards of Care for gay individuals.

http://media01.commpartners.com/AMA/sexual_identity_jan_2011/index.html

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/amawire/2011-march-16-glbt.shtml

http://www.wpath.org/documents/Standards%20of%20Care%20V7%20-%202011%20WPATH.pdf

[sourkreme]

03:09 PM on 01/24/2012

Sweetheart your boycott is working as far as I am concerned. No boxes of those thin mints in the freezer this year. If you looked into how the money is distributed after a box of cookies is sold you would never buy another box of cookies anyway. They use their girl scout troops as their little seller's to rake in million's and million's but ask the local girl scout troops how much they make on each box they sell. The council's make all the money and give very little back to the troops. They have 2 type's of troops for a reason. The Boy Scouts handle the people with male plumbing and the Girl Scouts handle the people with the girl plumbing. It's quite simple, God has already sorted the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts at birth and he did a really good job at it. As far as the scouts go let's just go by the plumbing and if your's is different then the group you want to get into then you do not belong in that group !

[WhiteGinger]

02:34 AM on 01/25/2012

what about hermaphrodites or inner sex children? How did God sort them out?

[cam94509]

07:19 PM on 02/03/2012

I suppose I'll just have to buy more to replace the cookies you didn't buy. What a shame. I mean, I'll just have to eat more cookies.

[sourkreme]

01:57 PM on 02/04/2012

Your going to have to get out quite a few $20 bills to buy as many thin mints as I buy and freeze for 2 boxes a week. Just because a mother dresses her SON up as a girl her SON still has male plumbing and is a BOY. If there was just scouts then mix them up and let them sleep together on camp outs. With girls getting pregnant younger and younger why not mix them up. They were split years ago for a certain reason and that reason has not changed. If you have a child that does not conform to one group or the other then grab the bull by the horns and start a new group. I can't even imagine what this BOY who dresses like a GIRL goes through each day but the mental problems this kid is going to grow up with will be tremendous. Instead of buying all those cookies send your money to that BOY to get the help he needs not to say he is a BOY but to cope with what is going on in his life.

[StephenieAllensom]

02:01 PM on 01/24/2012

This is our simple video response to the video and article:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcvbTXkHpaM

[Denise Nicely]

05:48 PM on 01/23/2012

I think that this girl, Taylor, has learned prejudices from her parents and now she is using it to punish another child. Isn't that bullying? That will just give her the feeling that she can hurt this child and bully her whenever she fills like it. There is nothing counting out transgender children in the by laws so I don't there is a case here. Why is it that our country takes freedom of speech as a right to push others around. If this child has an issue let her quit, she isn't the ideal girl scout anyway. For anyone who is backing this poor child more power to you. They say they are worried about changing in front of her and that sort of thing but when I was in the scouts we didn't change in front of each other anyway. Especially at that age when girls and boys are so awkward. This could be a great lesson in acceptance of people with differences. Would she also want to turn out children with disabilities who are also very different from her or a child in need of a place to go in order to belong to something with friends. If we allow these things to happen our children will suffer greatly. And don't give me that stuff about them being too young to deal with it. Children have the ability to accept more than we give them credit for.

[thgoodj]

04:01 PM on 01/23/2012

I don't care what anyone says.....You come into this world a boy or a girl and you WILL leave this world the same way no matter how you redesign your body.

[Cade Frost]

12:07 PM on 01/27/2012

I am Transsexual, and on the absolute lowest biological level I agree with you on leaving this world. On every level above biology, I beg to differ. I also do not agree that "you come into this world a boy or girl". We all come in as girls. Just sayin.

[Karen Marlise Cowles]

05:49 PM on 01/29/2012

You show how little you truly know.

[samara2187]

04:00 PM on 01/23/2012

I wanted to add that if this video has prompted anyone to buy cookies who normally doesn't, or who can't eat them for health reasons, many Girl Scout councils participate in Operation Taste of Home or some equivalent, where you can purchase cookies for troops overseas. My council sends half of its OTH cookies to the military and half to our local St. Vincent DePaul. If you can't have cookies yourself, but still want to support the cause, I'd encourage you to look into these programs. A poster below also mentioned "Operation Gratitude." Not sure what that is, but is sounds similar.

[elalator]

02:30 PM on 01/23/2012

YAY GIRLSCOUTS ~ Its about time someone stood up to the close-minded imbiciles in our world. Physical appearance does not, and never will, make you who you are emotionally or spiritually.

[torgman3]

12:02 PM on 01/22/2012

They seem so proud of Taylor for her stand that they obscure her identity. Interesting.

[Agent 241]

11:08 PM on 01/22/2012

Hey, protecting people's privacy is a good thing, whether you agree with them or not.

[torgman3]

07:43 AM on 01/23/2012

Protecting people's privacy is one thing. Obscuring it to push an agenda is another.

[Joshintree]

08:16 PM on 01/21/2012

So I can claim to be trans-racial? Maybe I feel like I was born caucasion, but I feel more like a native-american, or African-american. I guess that entitles me to their rights Or maybe I am trans-tarded, Nd should be getting disability, or I am trans-handicapped, i dont think i should have been born with arms or legs, wheres my disability? It doesn't matter what is down there? BS...I am not saying that this child doesn't have a choice, but at that age, seriously? You are born a specific race, a specific gender, you are a specific height, weight, etc... at what point does it end. I am for freedom, but this is far beyond. Just because you are not comfortable they way you were born, It doesnt entitle you to choose what you are. You are what you are. And if this child sees a girl nude at a camp or something, maybe an er***** is what it takes to show who he/she really is. come on people, get with the program.

[Chloe Rosenblatt]

08:32 PM on 01/22/2012

You've never been in that situation. You were (I'm assuming that you're a man, by the name; pardon me if I'm wrong) born with a penis, and happily grew into your gender roles that were presented to you by society. You played with the normal toys, said and did the normal things... but not all children are like that. Some know, the instant that they have independent thought, that there has been a mistake. When they see the other boys doing gender-normative things such as playing in the dirt and picking fights, they wonder why they're being pulled towards dressing up with the girls (these are are very broad and stereotypical gender roles, but I chose them because, you know, I thought you might understand better).
Bobby Montoya is not "dressing up," she is not experimenting... she is doing what feels NATURAL to her, what feels right. She has accepted herself as a beautiful young woman who just happened to be born with a penis... is there anything more beautiful than that? Why would anyone try to squash that in a little kid?
Also, you are not born a gender, you are born a sex: sex is the set of genitalia that you are born with, gender is the set of roles that society has laid out before you, including who you have sex with, what sort of jobs you have, what interests you have, etc.

[Joshintree]

12:23 AM on 01/23/2012

so does the term girl or boy refer to gender or sex?

[elalator]

02:33 PM on 01/23/2012

Are you serious???? You are obviously comfortable in your tree Josh.... may be best for humanity if you stayed there.