The Right-wing Boycott of Thin Mints

I am not a fan of the Girl Scouts of America.  Not that I think there is anything wrong with the organization necessarily, but I had a pretty lousy experience in my youth with scouting.  Our camping trip had to end early because it was cold, raining and miserable.   The one thing I learned as a Brownie (the precursor to Girl Scouts) was a legal term: embezzlement.  It's a noun that can be used in the sentence: "Susan's scout leader was arrested on charges of embezzlement when the cops discovered she'd taken all the Girl Scout Cookie money collected by her troop." 

Didn't make scouting a particularly fun experience for me.

But I like the cookies:  Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Does.  And they make some good shortbread and lemon cookies, too.  When I worked in radio, me and my colleagues would buy boxes and boxes of cookies as comfort food during the legislative session.  They went really well with coffee or tea.

And it's that time of year again when the young girls and usually one or two moms will set up shop outside a grocery store to help drive down the sales of Pepperidge Farm and Keebler with those enticing boxes of cookies.

So, it was a bit alarming to see the video circulating on the internet made by a 14-year-old girl in Ventura County, California urging the public to boycott the Girl Scouts of America cookie drive.

  
Her name is Taylor, and she's on a tear about the Girl Scouts of America's policy that allows transgender children into scouting.   In a seven-plus-minute video, Taylor manages to rattle off some of the most offensive nonsense and anti-trans propaganda that is out there.   She worries about the sleep-overs if there is a boy who identifies as a girl allowed to be in the sleeping quarters.  She equates this to allowing a male chaperon in the cabin with the young girls.  Because those two scenarios are, of course, the same... NOT.   She worries that the GSA policy toward trans children, adopted when a Colorado child who is MTF asked to join the Girl Scouts, is undermining the sanctity of this "all-girl" organization.   And, after watching all seven minutes and 55 seconds of this scripted and nauseating diatribe, she directs the viewers to HonestGirlScouts.com, where you can join in the boycott of Girl Scout cookies and read more anti-LGBT, anti-abortion material.  Yes, a 14 year-old is a cynical front for right-wing homophobia and bigotry.

The video has now been made "private" meaning that only the select (or is that "the elect"?) can see it.  That's fine.  This kind of unwanted bashing of the trans community needn't be spread around.  Especially since Taylor's crucifix is so prominently displayed around her neck.  Just what Christianity doesn't need: another person claiming the mantle of Christ and then mangling the message to the point of it being unrecognizable as they take another swing at the LGBT community.

Unfortunately for Taylor and her mommy and daddy who likely supported her in this effort, I and many others have now been inspired to add another box of GSA cookies to our shopping lists.  Just what my waistline didn't need!