Editorial: Anti-Girl Scout movement overlooks human rights

It’s hard to believe that people would ever want to boycott Girl Scout Cookies. It’s hard to believe that people would ever want to boycott Girl Scout Cookies.

But Honest Girl Scouts, a group that has formed in protest of Girl Scouts of the USA’s funding and admittance choices, does.

A 14-year-old girl recently placed — and removed — a video on YouTube that claims that the Girl Scouts organization is pushing a radical agenda by admitting a 7-year-old transgendered child to a Colorado troop this fall. She goes on to say — clearly reading from a script — that people should boycott Girl Scout Cookies and that “Girl Scouts describes itself as an all-girl experience. With that label, families trust that the girls will be in an environment that is … safe for girls.”

The transgendered child was, at first, not admitted into the organization. But after re-evaluating its policy, the Colorado Girl Scouts admitted the child. After the admittance, the organization released a statement through the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, saying, “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.”

Honest Girl Scouts not only finds admitting transgendered children outrageous; it also criticizes what the group funds. A printable flyer on the group’s website criticizes Girl Scouts’ “promoting” of abortion, sexual education and LGBTQ agendas.

We have a couple problems with Honest Girl Scouts’ outcry against Girl Scouts’ admittance policies, which are designed to help girls learn to communicate with other girls and share their problems in a friendly, safe environment.

First of all, since the YouTube video — most of which you can view on The Huffington Post’s website — has been made private, we can hardly even give Honest Girl Scouts props for standing up for what it believes in.

If you post something inflammatory online, you will get an inflammatory response. Honest Girl Scouts doesn’t even get credit for gumption. We do think it’s pretty cool that an online community is immediately able to call out socially backward views, though. That kind of reaction shows that, indeed, times are changing.

Secondly, why is a 7-year-old transgendered child a threat to safety? Does the definition of transgendered not mean anything? Although the definition is in flux, a transgendered person generally identifies with a gender that differs from the social expectations that come with his or her physical sex. So Girl Scouts’ inclusion of girls who feel like girls on the inside is simply a practical measure.

Girl Scouts is an organization that stands for the education and nurturing of girls and also happens to cater to girls from all walks of life — and that’s progressive and socially sound thinking. It promotes understanding and tolerance at an early age, which is exactly what this country needs to combat what has become a tradition of hate.

Honest Girl Scouts is certainly free to assert its beliefs, even though we think its concerns are those of a less-progressive time. But we are thankful that the Internet community could openly criticize the video, spread Honest Girl Scouts’ “fact” flyer around the Web and engage in relevant discourse.

With the removal of the video and rampant online support for Girl Scouts of the USA’s choices continuing to spread, it’s clear that tolerance has won this battle. But there is still a long war ahead.

Researching through all the “secret” Girl Scout agendas and protocols has kind of made us hungry.

Sign us up for some Thin Mints, please.