Today I bought EXTRA Girl Scout Cookies, and here's why:

[annabanana]

http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/religious-right-calls-girl-scout-cookie-boycott

Three Girl Scout troops in Louisiana won't be hawking Thin Mints this year. They've disbanded in protest after the Girl Scouts of Colorado accepted seven-year-old transgender child Bobby Montoya as a member. Montoya was born a boy but has considered herself a girl since she was two years old, says her mom Felisha Archuleta. In October, Archuleta took her daughter to speak with a Denver troop leader about signing up, and took her daughter away crying after the Scout leader referred to the child as "it" and said "Everyone will know he's a boy." Three weeks later, the statewide Girl Scouts body issued a statement 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." When they heard about this reversal, three moms and troop leaders in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana decided to dissolve their troops and leave Girl Scouts.

Now, 95 years after the organization first starting selling cookies, its signature product has once again become a political pawn. Right-wing groups and some conservative parents and scouts have posted to a site called Honest Girl Scouts, YouTube, and Facebook pages—including one called "Make Girl Scouts Clean Again"—urging Girl Scouts everywhere to go on strike from selling cookies, and their parents to stop buying them. They want Girl Scouts USA to officially bans transgender children from membership, and kick out any known transgender scouts "hiding" in the troops.

And when I bought them, I told the leader and the girls why.

I love the Girl Scouts. They encourage girls to do everything they can and want to do. Our troop went camping through Nova Scotia when we were about 12 years old. We pitched tents, made kitchens and prepared all our meals there. We dug latrines and lugged water for cooking and cleaning. And we realized that there was so much more that we were capable of us than most of us had ever dreamed. Girls of all races, religions and creeds were welcomed into our sorority with open arms. I know OUR troop would have had no problem with this youngster joining us and I am PROUD to see the Girl Scouts stand up to the right wing christofascist bullying.

[Odin2005]

1. NEED MORE THIN MINTS!!!

[barbtries]

3. more thin mints!

yeah

[Ohio Joe]

9. +1 - nt

[Missy Vixen]

2. I'm a former Camp Fire Girl

We doubled our Girl Scout cookie order this year.

Go ahead and boycott, bigots - there's more cookies for the rest of us!

[Warpy]

4. Alas, I can't buy the cookies this year or any year

since the pinprick rash and wheezing (and a few other problems) turned out to be an allergy to wheat, of all things.

However, yes, it is an amazing organization although local troops can be stiff and uncompromising.

(I'm thinking of the Brownie troop I was asked to leave after I taught 'em how to play blackjack and poker. I think I was eight)

[Booster]

5. I bought 10 boxes because of this boycott & told them to ship them to our troops

which they will do. The last thing I need is 10 boxes of cookies in the house.

[AnotherWyoDemocrat]

6. Or donate to the Girl Scouts

I donate instead of buying cookies since I think the cookie supplier overcharges the Girl Scouts for the cookies. All of the money goes to the Girl Scouts!

[cbrer]

7. Nice Rationalization

Cookies, not GLBT.

It only works for me with the Samoas. And then I could bathe in them!

But having a political excuse as well just means stock the freezer too! And buy some to send to Afghanistan!

[annabanana]

13. yeah.. well.. It's a better reason than

me love cookies

(which I shall, for the most part, foist off on my skinnier relatives.. . .really)

[Zenlitened]

8. The Girl Scouts are a fantastic organization in SO MANY ways.

Sounds like your experinces with them as a kid were truly transformative.

That's what they do: they transform young lives for the better!

Good on ya for your continued support, AND for letting folks know why.

[geckosfeet]

10. Mmmm. Coconut clusters. Mmm.

[kestrel91316]

11. I expect to see a major effort to take over the Girl Scouts

by stealth from inside - it's the christofascists' modus operandi. They can't be content to go and form their own group. They have to take over and destroy from within any group that shows tolerance of diversity.

[annabanana]

12. Either take it over or

try and smear it like they do the League of Women Voters.

[malaise]

14. You rock

One of my sisters and her hubby do free legal work for their girl scouts.
We were all Girl Guides when we were young.