Sunday, April 8, 2012

Transgender Girl Scouts Now Accepted


OK so I was going to post about Jenna Talackova, the transgender Miss Universe Canada contestant that was disqualified from the pageant (and I believe recently reinstated?), but I found this video instead that has an actual upside so yay!

I had not heard of this at all beforehand, but apparently Girl Scout USA has now decided to allow transgender girls participate in the organization. When I read the title of this video, I have to admit I was so shocked. I assumed Girl Scouts was a really conservative Christian organization and that news reports would more than likely say something more along the lines of the organization creating policies that forbid any LGBTQ person from joining. I mean the Girl Scout Promise even says "to serve God and my country." Although I know that the organization is divided by region so maybe more liberal regions would have different rules possibly. Either way, I did want to take a moment to acknowledge and virtually celebrate this small win... thought it would be nice to talk about something good for a change. I honestly think this is a great move for the organization because, especially for younger troops, it allows the members to experience and work with different types of people and see that there certainly is now harm in it. 

But obviously there has to be some bad news :) Apparently there are calls from other Girl Scouts to boycott Girl Scout Cookies and pressure the national branch of the organization to reverse its decision. As you see in the video and if you browse through the comments people have left, a trend of concerns for safety arises. This of course is ridiculous and, as Ana says, stems from a large degree of ignorance about transgender people. One major point is the fact that this child is 7 years old. Because she was born male does not mean that she is going to attempt to hurt any of the other girls sexually or otherwise. It is just blatantly irrational to think this. If people truly believed this all the time, this would be an argument to keep boys and girls separated at ALL TIMES, and studies have shown that a coed environment teaches both sexes to interact and work in group atmospheres better. Also what completely upsets me is the fact that this is supposed to be an organization of caring women helping better the world and society... women that are suppose to be accepting and loving people for just being people. But obviously some of these girls have not learned this and rather than trying to look at their world view and trying to understand this little girl's perspective and worldview, they would rather boycott and attempt to financial hurt an organization that they themselves are apart of. As a former Girl Scout... I am just very disappointed in these particular ladies.  

1 comment:

  1. The lady in the video had a good point: the "haters" are ignorant and are fueled by discomfort. Sure I know that some mothers or fathers may be concerned that a physically visible boy may interact with their daughters but the truth is that this person identifies as a woman. Maybe the girl is attracted to boys or women or whatever but I don't think a 7 year old has not developed sexual interest. To my knowledge the Girls Scouts accepts transgender people into their ranks and all troops must adhere to it. I don't know how long it's been implemented exactly but it's been a year maybe?

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