A Ventura County girl scout sparked a heated discussion nationwide after posting a video to Youtube advocating for the boycott of Girl Scouts of the USA’s annual cookie sale.
The unidentified 14-year-old asked people to boycott the cookies, which have become a staple in the homes of many Americans, after a transgender child was allowed to join a troop in Colorado.
“Why is GSUSA willing to break its own safety rules and go against its own research findings to accommodate transgender boys?” asked the girl in her recording.
The video of the cadette scout, which is unavailable to the public due to a privacy setting, was posted to the website honestgirlscouts.com. The site is run by a self-described fellowship of past and present scouts across the states who are “concerned" with what they deem "alarming choices” of the national Girl Scouts organization.
The fellowship said it is advocating for “a change back to simply building girls of good character.”
The Colorado boy at the center of the discussion is Bobby Montoya. The 7-year-old, who noted Bratz, Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake as some of his favorite toys in an interview with CNN, was initially told by a troop leader that he could not be a girl scout.
“Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization,” the organization later said in a statement to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. “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.”
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The organization said its requests for support of transgender children have grown and that its Colorado branch is “working to best support these children, their families and the volunteers who serve them.”
Several people have posted responses to the controversial video, showing support for Montoya’s inclusion in the organization. One of those video responses came from Buck Angel, who identified himself as a former transgender girl scout.
“Please buy as many cookies as you can and help them to really get the message across that it’s not about anything other than showing love and respect and learning how to be a good person,” he said.
Girl Scouts kicked of its cookie sale Friday, with the inclusion of a new cookie named Savannah Smiles.
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