The Meaning of Scouting
Published: January 19, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/opinion/the-meaning-of-scouting.html?_r=1The Colorado affiliate of Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. showed admirable understanding, and taught its young members a valuable lesson, when it said that it welcomes youngsters who were born male but identify as a girl and have a family that "presents her as a girl." The group clarified its policy after the mother of a 7-year-old was mistakenly told that her child could not join a troop because he has "boy parts" and she publicly complained. The Scouts contacted the mother, but the child has not enrolled.
Unfortunately, not all Girl Scout troops share the Girl Scouts' fundamental value of inclusion. Three troops at a Christian school in Louisiana disbanded to protest Colorado's policy, which is supported by the national Girl Scouts organization.
And the controversy erupted again a few days ago thanks to an eight-minute video that was posted on the YouTube channel of Honest Girl Scouts, a group that regularly attacks Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. for abandoning "traditional values" — whatever that is supposed to mean.
