By STEPHANIE SANTIAGO
Identity
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1, 2011
For the past 9 ½ years, I have been involved with the Girl Scouts of America and within those 9 ½ years, I have never heard of any Girl Scout troop accepting a transgendered child. While exploring GLSEN’s (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) website, I came across an article that spoke about a local Colorado Girl Scout troop that took in a transgendered child who was denied entrance by another troop leader unaware of the organization’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The following is a statement from GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard about the Girl Scouts of Colorado’s decision to welcome the child into the organization: “Families with transgender children have limited access to school or community resources that promote their child’s healthy development. But yesterday, the Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomed a transgender child to join a local troop and become involved in its activities emphasizing empowerment, skills building and community service.
There is an outstanding need for promoting respect and inclusion in both our schools and communities. Nearly 64% of LGBT students are called names or threatened at school simply because of their gender expression. In addition to ensuring safe and respectful schools, youth organizations like the Girl Scouts serve as significant forms of support for promoting the healthy development of children. We applaud the Girl Scouts of Colorado for extending their message of courage, confidence and character to all children who identify as girls.”
In my troop, we always accepted any girl regardless of gender identity. Most of them happened to be friends of mine and it was always a great time. No one ever thought of them as being different or unequal. We attended about every Girl Scout function we could get our hands on and went on being ourselves because that is what Girl Scouts gave us the freedom to do, express who we were. It is great to see that the Girl Scouts of America organization is accepting those of different gender identities into their troops.
When reading articles such as these, it gives me great hope for the LGBTQ community because I believe little by little people are beginning to see how there is very little difference between being homosexual or heterosexual. I could not be any more proud to say that I am involved in an organization that is willing to open their arms to those who identify differently from others .
