Girl Scout's Cookie Boycott: Buck Angel, Transgender Former Scout, Rebukes Taylor's YouTube Plea (VIDEO)

A California-based Girl Scout's planned cookie sale boycott following her organization's decision to accept transgender youth into its troops has sparked furor from lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates as well as numerous other groups.

One former scout, however, who happens to be transgender is now speaking out in favor of Girl Scouts' all-encompassing policy. "When I was growing up, I was a Girl Scout," Buck Angel says in the clip. "I was born as a girl, but I always knew I was a guy...they accepted me into the Girl Scout troop and everyone was loving and giving and it was never an issue."

Before encouraging viewers to buy as many Girl Scout cookies as possible (and naming Thin Mints as his favorite), Angel goes on to note, "I just wanted to give a shout to Girl Scouts for accepting transgender Girl Scouts into the Girl Scout troops."

Yesterday, a YouTube clip of a reportedly 14-year-old Girl Scout, identified by World Net Daily only as Taylor from Ventura County, Calif., lambasting her organization for its controversial decision to admit a 7-year-old transgender child to a Colorado troop went viral in the blogosphere. (The original video has since been made private by its users). "Girl Scouts describes itself as an all-girl experience," Taylor, who claimed to have been a Girl Scout for eight years, said in the clip. "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."

In the fall, Girl Scouts of America defended its decision to admit the 7-year-old transgender child after one troop initially excluded her, 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."

Comments

[Beachbum007]

04:14 PM on 03/10/2012

Why in the world would any one want to belong to a group that doesn't want them? Maybe because it will garner them attention and put them on TV? I like the idea of TransScouts, GayScouts, BoyScouts, GirlScouts, GayTransScouts, TransGayScouts, GenderNeutralScouts, AsexualScouts, BiSexualScouts, BiRacialScouts, BiRacialTransScouts, BiRacialBiSexualScouts, BiRacialGayTransScouts, BiRacialGirlscouts, BiRacialGayBoyScouts, BiRacialGayGirlScouts, on infinitum..... How about just ChildScouts? Let them be kids, for crying out loud, and quit labeling everyone. We are all unique individuals and no one can ever completely fit into a specific group. I'm 1/8 Cherokee Indian, 7/8 multi-racial, heterosexual, white skinned, blue eyed, long fingered and short toed, openminded, educated, with an unreasonable appetite for cheese nachos. Is there a scout troop for me? Don't complicate what should be very simple. Again, ChildScout Cookies for everyone! Especially the peanut butter ones!

[joe1964]

09:27 AM on 02/27/2012

As a gay man trans issues are very new to me. A lot of this passed me by because I was pretty selfish, fighting for MY rights in my 20's. Trans issues just didn't show on my radar.

I think it all comes down to fairness. Do trans people choose to be trans? Does it really matter? Why should children be forced into stereotypical gender roles when will just leave them miserable and with psychological issues as adults?

Who is getting hurt if the 7 year old trans girl is allowed into the girl scouts? For Heaven's sake, she's 7! What's she going to do, infect the other girls with "The Trans Disease," or initiate sex with the other girls (remember, she identifies as a girl!) 4 years before puberty?

People really need to stop being such jerks.

[KAYLEE BURRIS]

01:23 AM on 03/08/2012

joe would glad to be a guide to help you understand.

[Cade Frost]

12:41 PM on 01/27/2012

Yay Buck!

[Darlie Brewster]

11:15 AM on 01/18/2012

It's just the Christian Terrorists trying to hurt people again. Thanks Buck.

[Asmondius]

06:55 PM on 01/20/2012

Yup - labelling an entire group of people is certainly a sign of prejudice.

[Shawn Longino]

06:56 PM on 01/27/2012

labeling christian terrorists as Christian terrorists, you mean?

[ColleenHarper]

09:05 PM on 01/30/2012

Darlie was very clear. Not Christians... Christian Terrorists. Not all Christians are terrorists, but the terrorists are terrorists.

[switcher]

06:57 PM on 01/16/2012

People fear what they don't understand... and unfortunately it'll take a long time for people to understand transgender issues. If people could get past the quick study from what they observed on Jerry Springer (or years ago from Geraldo), gender identity issues are very complicated. So much so, there are special clinics for people with 'Gender Identity Disorder' to connect with. Why does it exist? Because it's a legitimate medical condition. http://www.camh.net/Care_Treatment/Program_Descriptions/Mental_Health_Programs/Gender_Identity_Clinic/gender_identity_criteriasurgery.html

[mariadbd]

06:18 PM on 01/15/2012

1. Why is a Californian girl scout commenting on a Scout of another State when it is none of her business?
2. Who wrote her script? (far too rigid and adult to have been written by herself)
3. Who are the parents or troop behind this diatribe and why haven't they shown their faces???
4. The Girl Scouts of America and around the world don't stand for such uneducated and vindicitive commentary
5. A transgender child does NOT mean she is a 7-year old paedophile, society threat, danger to Girl Scouts, public health risk, alien in human form, threat to national security, or wants to take over the world!
6. Her parents are probably not indulgent - rather they will have gone through a lot of soul searching and distress before accepting that their child is in her wrong body as a boy and they should be supported themselves for being such supportive parents

BTW, rather than being a liberal sap, I'm a deeply religious, church-going mother whose concern will always be for the health and happiness (both physical and mental) of my children no matter what. I will NEVER judge another - for all the Bible studiers - God made us all in his own image and that includes ALL of us. Those who are so blatantly small-minded, ignorant and uneducated hicks need to go and get a real life in 21st century America. The rest of us will continue our life's education with an open mind.

[KAYLEE BURRIS]

07:48 PM on 01/30/2012

ok maria,see what you did? now i have to fan and fav you 8)

[iAnonymous]

09:12 PM on 01/14/2012

seriously, what does the right expect a troop to do, pull down the pants of every potential scout? As they said, if the girl says she is a girl, and her parents are raising her as a girl, she's a girl.

[hokudawg]

07:12 PM on 01/14/2012

Is it that time of year already? Better go get my boxes. I don't really care about the boxes, just what's inside. If the quality on the inside is a primary focus the end product is usually pretty darn good.

[Valerie Keefe]

04:26 PM on 01/15/2012

I see what you did there... and I liked it.

[hokudawg]

07:41 PM on 01/14/2012

You're clueless. The problems don't stem from the parents nor thier children. They stem from ignorance. If you're twit95 what are the twits1-94 like?

[Untamed Rose]

07:59 PM on 01/14/2012

BS.... To correct the behavior is child abuse, as well as sexist as hell. What exactly is "girl behavior" "boy behavior"?

Your personal issues and insecurity's doesn't make it the rest of the worlds problem Twit.

[happy ending]

01:58 PM on 01/14/2012

I'm buying my girl scout cookies from a transgender girl this year and will be buying boxes and boxes to donate homeless children.

Buck Angel, that you for sharing your story... you're an angel!!

[Lauro Andrea]

02:49 AM on 01/15/2012

Im in Cambodia and get everything sent by express which costs a lot. I have asked my mom to get me some Girl Scout cookies.
I will buy the original box which from that transgender girl sells if you will sell it to me.

[xrk9854]

12:14 PM on 01/14/2012

Are you for real? The 1950's was a long time ago buddy. Gender identity and sexual orientation are completely separate things. This article was about a transsexual man voicing his opinion on the Girls Scouts wonderfully inclusive policy towards trans people.

[Steve Brewer II]

02:33 PM on 01/14/2012

I seriously hope you are kidding. When I go to the gym and use the locker room I go in, change, maybe use the restroom and wash my hands then leave. Not everything is about sex to us homosexuals just like you heterosexuals. If you feel so self conscious that you cannot stomach the idea of me and you using the same locker room then you should be the one not using the locker rooms.

We wouldn't have to have this conversation over LGBT issues if bigots would just get over it, like they did with the Civil Rights Act, and treat LGBT members equal and fairly which is what the discussion this article brings up is about.

[Lauro Andrea]

02:36 AM on 01/14/2012

Go for it Buck!
I too was a girl scout and it was a fun group to be in when everyone else didn't want you. I was such a geeky kid.

[Peter Zin]

02:30 AM on 01/14/2012

when is enough enough? How is a seven year old boy decide that he doesn't want to be a he any more? I mean shouldn't he be nudged to act like a boy by his parents? I mean shouldn't they correct his behavior? I mean he hasn't even hit puberty yet come'on this kid is not a trans'gender. Identity vs role confusion doesn't occur until 12 yrs old approx

[Off Camber]

05:56 AM on 01/14/2012

I knew before I was in pre-school that the way I felt didn't match my body. I knew who I was before you probably even learned how to write your own name. No amount of wishing, dresses bought, girl stuff purchased on my Mothers part could change that, because there is no fix to being yourself. At this point in my life, I've lived as a male longer than female. If you met me on the street you'd think I was just another normal guy doing his thing. What is so damn scary about that? If people even knew the sheer amount of trans people they rub shoulders with on a day to day experience, they'd be shocked. We're out there, we've always been out there, so get over it. Props to Buck for speaking out.

[Peter Zin]

06:50 AM on 01/14/2012

oh ya you would let a 7 yr old decide if he wants to be a boy or a girl? you would encourage a wrong choice? so many children engage in cross-gendered play when young, without becoming transsexual because their behavior are not encouraged by the parents because its wrong at that age.

[xrk9854]

12:17 PM on 01/14/2012

You operate under the delusion that transsexual people choose to be that way. WRONG. Transsexual people are born that way (mind-body mismatch). When a transsexual person transitions (aka "sex change") they are correcting that mismatch they were bon with.

Correct his behavior? Gender identity is both inborn and unchangeable. She couldn't be a boy if she tried.

[Marxlover]

01:13 AM on 01/14/2012

So glad you guys are buying cookies, because eeryone here in New York is supporting the ideas that Girl Scouts is for girls! Let the Transgender start a Transgender Scourts. Or better yet, let them join the Boy Scouts! Why crash the girls party? No one at work is buying Girl Scouts this year. Let the girls have their own scouting org. Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeee.

[spidermom]

09:24 AM on 01/14/2012

good, more for me.

[spidermom]

09:25 AM on 01/14/2012

I stopped all finanal aid to the boy scouts years ago.

[ColleenHarper]

07:16 PM on 01/13/2012

Bless you Buck!

I definitely plan on finding a local Girl Scout Troop and buying a good handful of boxes!