Bonus post today! I promise that later, I will thrill you with a post about someone a lot cooler than I am, so you can go read that person’s blog. Or stalk them on Twitter. Whatever. For now, I want to talk about Girl Scouts.
A friend posted this article on Facebook:
In a letter obtained by The Journal-Gazette of Fort Wayne on Monday, Rep. Bob Morris of Fort Wayne said he did some research on the Internet and found allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, allow transgender females to join and encourage sex.
“After talking to some well-informed constituents, I did a small amount of web-based research, and what I found is disturbing,” Morris wrote in his letter, which also accused the group of promoting “homosexual lifestyles.”
Oh, Bob. Bob, Bob, Bob. What are you thinking? I’m happy for you that your “web-based research” led you to sites which back up what you apparently already believed. But I’m unclear on what you think will happen as a result. Are you suggesting that by joining Girl Scouts, our daughters are going to turn into sexually indiscriminate lesbians?
Do you know what my daughter learns at her troop meetings? She learns how to make crafts out of things in our recycle bin. She learns how to care for animals by protecting their environment. Last year, she and the other girls made an indoor garden, which they watered and tended. They were allowed to eat the food they had grown. This year, my daughter improved her reading skills by reading aloud to her fellow scouts and parents. She has learned how to speak up for herself and she’s learned self-confidence.
Not once has she learned about anything remotely resembling sex education.
I was a Girl Scout for nine years. I went camping, I sold cookies, I made friends, and I took a trip to Alaska (yes, really). I didn’t “turn into” a lesbian. I didn’t learn about sex or abortions. I didn’t receive free condoms or pamphlets on safer sex. There is no badge for sex education and sexuality.
You know what? Rep. Morris is right. GSA does indeed accept transgendered, lesbian, and bisexual youth, as well as adults as volunteers and leaders. Girls and adults are not included or excluded based on their religion (or lack thereof). In fact, they have a stated non-discrimination policy. (It’s not perfect, but it is very good.) But where Rep. Morris is confused is how that will affect our daughters or our society.
The fact that Boy Scouts actually does have a policy (whether individual packs/dens choose to follow it or not) which discriminates against gays and atheists hasn’t necessarily made our society better. The fact that Girl Scouts is non-discriminatory hasn’t made it any worse.
Rep. Morris seems blissfully unaware of just how he comes across. His case against GSA is actually a straw-man argument. He is really targeting Planned Parenthood, using his perceived connection with GSA. He, and others like him, seem not to see how this is connected to the way that women’s health care and sexuality have been undermined. By going after GSA, he is trying to take down one of the best organizations for young women—one which encourages girls to find their voices and use them.
My daughter, through her experiences in GSA, is already learning how to channel her energy into positive leadership skills. I hope and pray that she grows into the kind of women who won’t let men like Rep. Morris bully her or any other woman.
Long live GSA.
