Skepticism

Buy Girlscout Cookies

One bigoted Girl Scout is asking you to boycott Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA) because they have the audacity to be tolerant and inclusive.

From WND.com

After controversy arose over the potential admission of Colorado 7-year-old Bobby Montoya last month, The Girl Scouts of Colorado released a statement explaining, “We accept all girls in kindergarten through 12th grade as members. 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.”

And Taylor the Girl Scout will not stand for this! Because apparently boys all over the country are pretending to be girls just to sneak into the GS Secret Lair of Girliness to get girl badges or some shit and that’s just downright unacceptable. Because… penis or something, I guess.

Suddenly, Thin Mints never sounded so delicious (and Thin Mints pretty much always sound delicious.)

An anti-boycott is in order not only to show Tyler that this kind of bigotry is unacceptable but also to support an organization that does great work and publicly acknowledges and supports transgendered children. (Are you listening, Boy Scouts?)

So go buy them. By the gross.

You can find cookies through the GSUSA website and search for cookies using your zipcode or you can download the Girl Scout Cookie iPhone app!

(ETA: Sasha pointed out in the comments that vegans do not have to opt out of their support. EcoVeganGirl has a list of vegan Girl Scout cookies. Girl Scouts, is there anyone you’re not accepting and supportive of?)

Go Girl Scouts!

Elyse

Elyse MoFo Anders is the bad ass behind forming the Women Thinking, inc and the superhero who launched the Hug Me! I'm Vaccinated campaign as well as podcaster emeritus, writer, slacktivist extraordinaire, cancer survivor and sometimes runs marathons for charity. You probably think she's awesome so you follow her on twitter.

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71 Comments

  1. Yeah, just saw that video. She is either utterly clueless or she’s deliberately being cruel to transgender kids and teens. She refers to “me and my family” or something similar in the video. I suspect she’s from a fundie-family.

    Here’s their website: http://www.honestgirlscouts.com

    Cookies > Fundies

  2. Since bigotry tends to be a learned thing,it is particularly sad to see this girl behaving in such a manner. One must assume that her family are responsible. Most young people seem much more accepting of trans individuals

    1. Question seconded. I’d like to let them know that the cookies I’m buying this weekend will specifically be because of their policies. (When on threads discussing the Boy Scouts, I already take active steps to correct folks who make noise about the cookies, thinking both groups use the same policies.)

    1. Indeed, the site should come with a health warning. After just 2 or 3 clicks the blood pressure is off the scale. Luckily I had a hefty dose of metal at hand for a quick detox.

      1. Other than a strong suspicion you’re mocking the “CAM” detox folks, I can’t make sense of your “hefty dose of metal” comment. Is this the sort of metal you listen to? Or perhaps you’re going to ingest arsenic to lower your blood pressure? I understand that it does this very effectively in sufficient dose.

        1. Yes, it was a quip. Just seen this weeks Castle episode :).
          It’s the kind of metal you can listen to. Oddly enough, listening to (power) metal helps me relax and concentrate better.

  3. …aaaaand youtube comments and ratings disabled on the video. Shouldn’t be surprised by that.

  4. Uch this is so vile. The girl is 14, did she really come up with this bile all by herself? Most certainly not.
    The puppet and her puppeteers are beating the conservative christians drum again. Is there anything these godspawn monsters won’t try to pervert until all humanity and decency is squeezed out of it?

  5. Give her some credit, her hate and bigotry were presented well.
    What is duct taped over on her sash?

    1. That would be her troop number. Which is a good move. If I were in her troop, I wouldn’t want that number anywhere near this video.

  6. I’m impressed that the girl scouts took that stand, so yes, I’ll buy cookies.

    I mean, I always buy cookies, but I’ll buy them with enthusiasm now! More enthusiasm.

    I always liked the shortbread cookies (odd, I know), but I can’t for the life of me remember what they’re called.

      1. That’s the ones!

        Samoas and Tagalogs always were too rich for my tastes, but thin mints and trefoils? Perfect.

  7. Just sent them the following email.

    Hi. I just watched the video you posted on YouTube calling for a boycott on Girl Scout cookies.

    Thank you so much for bringing this issue to my attention. When choosing what organizations to support, I think it is extremely important to be aware of policies like this. I think this is doubly important when it comes to organizations that we entrust with the task of teaching our children personal values. I don’t think I ever would have known that GSUSA allows transgendered individuals into its troops were it not for your video.

    As a result of having seen your video, I will definitely be buying Girl Scout cookies the next time I see them on sale. I unconditionally support groups that promote tolerance and acceptance the way the GSUSA do, and hope that their message reaches as many young people as possible.

    1. I was just going to suggest an email like this to Sasha Pixlee above! Well done you, this is perfect :)

      1. After I sent it, I realized I should have also included this sentence. “If GSUSA is allowing transgendered people into troops, I bet they would even let homosexuals participate, too!”

        Oh, well.

    2. Yeah, I was about to send them an email too. Also sending one to the Girl Scout organization to show my support or their position. Think I’ll do that actually. :)

    3. I sent the following email:

      I saw the video posted on your site recently and I just wanted to thank you for alerting me to the position the Girl Scout organization has taken on the issue of transgender children. As a transgender person myself, I am delighted to see that the US branch of an organization that I spent many years of my own childhood in – in my own country – has adopted such an open-minded and inclusive policy on this. Life for transgender children and teenagers is already hard due to people like you promoting bigotry and hatred based on misguided and outdated conservative ideas. It saddens me that you indoctrinate a new generation, like the girl in that video, with this mindset of hatred and intolerance – adding to the suffering of a group of people who have one of the highest suicide rates in our society already. I will certainly support their organization whenever I get the chance, now that you have made me aware of their position. So again, thank you.

      Veronica

    1. Whoa there, pardner! I think at some point she asked people to donate money directly to the Girl Scouts rather than buy cookies, so this could be misinterpreted. (I’m not sure exactly what she said, and am unwilling to sacrifice the brain cells to watch it again. Much rather sacrifice the arteries by eating the cookies.) So if you do this, please make sure you are clear to them why you are doing it.

      This brings up something that has concerned me for some time… Most of the cookies have tons of hydrogenated tropical oils and other nasty stuff. (AFIAK, the correlation of “bad” fats with atherosclerosis still holds up.) So last time a coworker hit my up for some cookies (several year ago), I thought next time I’d just donate the money instead of buying the cookies. But this slams that notion. A couple of days ago, a friend announced his daughter is selling GS cookies, I’m definitely in. Anyway, thin mints are too thin to have any calories, the lemony ones aren’t too bad, and peanut butter is the FSM’s own food.

      1. She’s asking for individuals to directly donate money to the individual troops and avoid giving money to the larger organization. Most of the money from cookie sales goes to the larger organization with only a very small amount of it going to the troops selling the cookies.

        Support for trans inclusion is, as I understand from this video and other articles I’ve read about it, largely coming from the larger organization. If you want to support the GSA buying cookies or making a donation to the GSA is a good idea. However it is not a bad idea to support your local troops especially if you know them to be inclusive and welcoming so feel free to donate on any level you wish and express the reason for your support being in support of trans inclusion in the Girl Scouts.

        1. Thanks. It did seem a little illogical that she was calling for a boycott of cookies, but supported giving money instead. I just chalked that up to fundie irrationality, but your explanation makes much more sense. Also I was falling into the trap of thinking she must be a complete and total idiot just because her ideas are despicable and fraught with logical fallacies.

          1. Glad to help. She does mention the division of profits on the cookies I believe (I also do not wish to bother re watching the video to confirm) but I was previously aware of that particular bit of information as a former scout and informed cookie consumer. I think that there are legitimate reasons to question the division of profit off of the cookies and to support local troops directly, but anti-trans bigotry isn’t one of them.

  8. I’m going to be in big trouble with the US Army if I don’t lose a few pounds. But I suddenly find I need some thin mints. And some peanut butter. And some…

  9. I get to support equality *and* get delicious cookies? What is this, some sort of liberal utopia?

  10. Fuck, what depressing bigotry. On the other hand, I’m thrilled to learn that GSUSA takes such a progressive stance on trans issues. BSA could learn a thing or two.

    1. BSA is like the anti-GSA. Girl Scouts is more than happy to have atheists (despite God in their promise), lesbian troop members and leaders and transgender girls.

      Boy Scouts won’t allow atheist, gay or (not surprisingly) trans members or leaders.

  11. Wow, that was horrible. The whole video is creepy; over used power point format, zombie like tone, corperate speak, I mean who uses words like: discover, connect, take action. I guess the proof of gender would be the discover part, not sure what connect would be…

    Someone should send her a Santorium badge for her sash, she has earned it.

    Single sex troops are rather odd anyway. Mixed troops are becoming more popular where I am and I think that is far better.

  12. Because if you are an eighteen year old boy who lives as a girl and want to be a girl it’s reasonable to think you will be a threat to the real girls. It’s the hormones you see. And the … penis thing. Ummm…

    Why, I would say that these boys are more honest than many. Instead of trying to be the boy they are not, they go all the way. And their families. Respect!

  13. Comments on the video are blocked, but not on her channel. She is being called all sorts of horrible things including people telling her she should be raped. It’s pretty bad, though there are some comments are reasonable for her video.

  14. Since this posted yesterday I am buying cookies and donating them to the Downtown Women’s shelter. I have also signed up to volunteer with the girl scouts and my sister, who owns a children’s clothing boutique will be hosting different troops every weekend selling cookies at her store!!!

    The Girl Scouts Rock.

  15. FUNDIE’S UNDIES BUNCHED ON SUNDAYS

    And every other day for that matter.

    I’m not surprised by the pushback frankly, but if you go to the HonestGirlScouts.com (apparently they’re gunning for some sort of irony award) you will find their real agenda.

    Through a series of spurious links that would make an anti-vaxxer blush they have come to a conclusion (that GSUSA is “in league” with Planned Parenthood, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, the United Nations, and other “New World Order” groups to recruit and brainwash the youths or some such shit) that prompted the following stamped across the page (in un-highlightable text);

    Did you get the message from the highlighted text above? Planned Parenthood a Girl Scouts are TRAINING how to integrate Sexual Rights into youth advocacy. Does anyone else get a chill down their spine when they realize that Girl Scouts of the USA just changed all the badge-earning curricula (sp) to focus on training youth to –gulp—advocate and promote activism?

    Hmmm, interestingly the group seems to be very concerned that GSUSA is teaching girls to be tolerant and politically active. So it’s not really about the icky boy penises that may be within range of their little angels, well only a little about that, it is more about GSUSA creating –gasp– LIBRULS. This is the same sort of straw manning that went on over Prop 8, (teh gayz wuz gonna teach teh buttsecks in da skoolz) and it is just as ridiculous. No wonder they are so worried; if my worldview were this narrow and bigoted I’d be worried too.

    1. I get 404’s on both your links (but Elyse’s worked), so I can only assume your quote is totally accurate.

      Notice the typo? “Planned Parenthood a Girl Scouts”. From context, it seems it should be “and”, not “a”. But “a” is pronounced just like the French word for “and”, which is “et”. Coincidence? I think not. The French are not only not Americans (and notorious International cheese-eating surrender-monkeys), but they speak a foreign language, too. And “ET” stands for “Extra Terrestrial”. The Girl Scouts are part of the international UFO conspiracy, folks! Remember, you heard it here first!

      P.S. As a cheese-eating surrender-monkey, allow me to be the first to welcome our new transgender alien Girl Scout overlords. Pass me the Samoas, thank you.

      1. Somehow an extraneous quotation mark got into each of the links, I swear I typed them correctly. As for the a instead of and I’m claiming gremlins. That’s my story And I’m st….

        AAAAAAAAHHHHGGG!!!!!!

        THERE’S A MAN – ON THE WING OF THIS PODCAST!!

        Sorry, flashback.

  16. Coincidentally (or actually not) I saw another teenager’s video at Freethoughts earlier today.

    She’s the ideal antidote for the queasiness one may feel after watching the perfect little trooper above.

    Please watch, while munching cookies, it’ll restore your faith in humanity.

    1. So fucking cool. I hope my future hypothetical kids can turn out that awesome. Her parents should be damned proud, and so should she:)

  17. My mind turned around 180 degrees on Girl Scouts. I have always been a Camp Fire supporter, and as such I felt a bit of rivalry. I also feel more supportive of Camp Fire’s original mission to teach girls outdoor skills.

    But the Campfire Pledge compels us to “Worship God” first and foremost. Even though Campfire never turned anyone away as far as I know and is full to the brim with lesbian leaders, it never showed explicit support to the people who make it possible.

    I say Campfire needs to step up now that Girlscouts showed some real ovaries on this matter.

  18. By the way, if you’d like to support the Girl Scouts and your local troop, but for any reason don’t want cookies lurking in your pantry, you can choose the option to donate cookies to U.S. troops overseas. You just sign up and write a check, and the GSUSA sends cookies directly to our servicepeople. And evidently HonestGirlScouts howls in impotent rage. Everyone wins!

      1. ^^THIS!!^^^^

        This link is very informative. It’s a MUST READ!!!Turns out the parents website is being researched. It looks more and more like the domain was registered with a fake street address.

        The original youtube video is not available, as you mentioned. It has been mirrored, however.

  19. I haven’t read all the posts yet, so forgive me if this is a repeat. I would suggest not only buying extra cookies this year, but writing to the Girl Scouts and letting them know what you did and (more importantly) why. Be civil, naturally, and supportive of their policies, preferably without also trashing the girl in the video. (I know that’s hard.)

  20. I’m a pretty open minded guy, and in my head I know there is nothing wrong with my daughter (who is a Girl Scout) going to meetings with a transgendered kid. Bigotry is a natural state for people though, and I can see how a run of the mill, bigoted response would be discomfort with your kid hanging out with the “other’.

    But, even if you embrace your bigotry…isn’t the idea of your kid hanging out with a transgendered child a hell of a lot less scary than the GSA having a policy of checking out the crotches of sexually ambiguous kids? If you make a policy that transgendered kids can’t join…how could possible enforce it fairly without doing that? Yuck.

    Also, does the girl in the video have a creep cult quality or is that just me?

  21. Though I am supportive of the inclusive and positive message the Girl Guides are sending by including the transgender community, and at the risk of tainting people’s opinions of me and those I support; I must supply a response to the statement “Girl Scouts, is there anyone you’re not accepting and supportive of?”. Yes… boys. Last I checked girls can join Boy Scouts, but boys cannot join Girl Guides.

    I don’t know which side of the fence I land on (should girls be in boy scouts AND boys be in girl guides, or neither). Regardless the institutions still currently support and teach gender differences and gender roles.

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