girl scout policy

[briantshore]

I have been involved in boy scouts for several years. I am currently a Den Leader in Cub Scouts. My wife is a Assistant Brownie Leader. The Brownie Troop is doing a activity where you bring another girl to a troop meeting. The mother of the girl she asked would not let her attend becouse she was of the oppinion that the girl scouts either promoted /suported the gay and homosexual issuies. I do not know how she came about this information. I started to do some reserch on the web, and found that there had been specific councils that had tried to remove the referance to God in the pledge, but I could not find any information on the other subject. I am well aware of where the BSA stands on this subject. Can anyone give me some information on GSA's policy is?

[nldscout]

The Girl Scout Promise

 

On my honor, I will try:

To serve God* and my country,

To help people at all times,

And to live by the Girl Scout Law

 

 

* The word "God" can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one's spiritual beliefs. When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word "God" with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.

 

It appears from this copied from GSUSA web site, That Reverence to your god is still part of program.

[ScoutNut]

GSUSA does not "promote" or "support" the agenda of any group other than their own.

 

The Girl Scout Law

 

I will do my best to be

honest and fair,

friendly and helpful,

considerate and caring,

courageous and strong, and

responsible for what I say and do,

and to

respect myself and others,

respect authority,

use resources wisely,

make the world a better place, and

be a sister to every Girl Scout.

 

Girl Scouts is dedicated to every girl, everywhere.

 

 

[kwality]

I know that in our GS council all leaders are screened with a background check. There are policies to protect girls from sex offenders. There are policies for male leader actions, to avoid even the possibility of improper behavior. (For example, they must always have a second adult, preferrably female, present.) Whenever practical, all leaders (male and female) stay in separate tents or cabins when camping.

 

When I was trained, we were told, "There is no place in Girl Scouts for sexual activity, of any type. Discussions relating to controversial or sexual topics (including discussions about personal safety - rape prevention, teen pregnancy, or abstinence) require special parental notification and approval." That doesn't sound like promotion of any sexual agenda to me!

 

However, Girl Scouts, unlike Boy Scouts, does not pre-emptively ask leaders (or scouts) about their sexual orientation. If the policy is that sexual activity has no place in Girl Scouting, period, it would be hard to justify asking this question. If some people see this as endorsing an alternative lifestyle,there isn't much you can do to convince them otherwise. I wish I could.

 

For example, I can ask you, as a cub leader, do the boy scouts ask about, and eliminate from leadership, any man who has ever cheated on his wife? What about a single guy who is a "player"? If they do not, this does not mean that they promote/support a promiscuous lifestyle, does it? I don't think so! (I have 2 brothers who are Eagle scouts, this is not a slam against the Boy Scouts.) I just get depressed when people insinuate support from a lack of inquiry.

 

And let's not even get into what people do on their taxes, or if they use the office copier for scout forms, etc. If leaders must be PERFECTLY VIRTUOUS, we would have no leaders at all. No, we only promise to TRY to live by the GS law, keep the promise, follow safety wise, take training, attend SU meetings, fill out all paperwork, get first aid and CPR renewed, balance the troop checkbook, pay for our cookies on time, and try to make it all fun for the girls as they learn to be better people.

 

Who has time for sex after all that anyway? (Don't ask my husband that one...)

 

Carla

[fgoodwin]

Here is a quote from, The Cookie Crumbles: The Girl Scouts go PC

 

http://www.nationalreview.com/23oct00/lopez102300.shtml

 

So why isn't the Girl Scouts, like the Boy Scouts, being sued and protested against for not allowing lesbian Scout leaders? Because they have them. The Girl Scouts does not have "a discrimination policy," as they like to put it Girl Scouts doors are open to all, gay Scout leaders and girls.

 

Girl Scout policy forbids sex on Girl Scouts time. But the book On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on Their Scouting Experience, published in 1997, is filled with coming-of-age stories sparked by gay encounters in the Girl Scouts. Along with an essay entitled "All I Really Need to Know About Being a Lesbian I Learned at Girl Scout Camp," and various stories of "butch" counselors who "wore men's clothes and had slicked back short hair," is testimony to the prevalence of lesbians in Girl Scouting. One writer remembers: "By the time I was a junior counselor, Mic was assistant camp director and her gruff, deep-voiced directives no longer scared me. I didn't know that most of the counselors were lesbians." Others remember how sleepovers and camping trips were opportunities for same-sex sexual experimentation. Girl Scout staffers writing in the book claim that roughly one in three of the Girl Scouts' paid professional staff is lesbian.

[fgoodwin]

If the "National Review" is not your cup-o-tea, try this from the National Center for Lesbian Rights:

 

http://www.nclrights.org/releases/girlscouts071101.htm

 

GIRL SCOUTS ATTACKED FOR INCLUSION OF LESBIANS AND GAYS

Please Send Your Letter of Support

June 2001

 

A group from the religious right called the American Family Association, based in Tupelo Mississippi, is attacking the Girl Scouts because that organization refuses to discriminate against lesbians and gays. Unlike the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts has always been inclusive. All girls are welcome in Girls Scouts, not just the pretty ones or the popular ones or the skinny ones or the ones with traditional families or the straight ones. Inclusive means just that. In the mid-90's, the organization went on the public record with a statement to the Associated Press that said it does not discriminate based on sexual orientation.

 

A few months ago, the Girl Scout national president, Connie Matsui, made favorable remarks about a video called "That's A Family," which positively depicts lesbian and gay family groups. Ms. Matsui attended a screening at The White House during the final days of the Clinton Administration. The bigots at the American Family Association have sent 10,000 letters of protest to the national Girl Scout organization, demanding that Ms. Matsui retract her statement and/or resign. In contrast, the Girl Scouts have received only five -- that's right, five --letters of support.

 

Please write to Ms. Matsui and let her know that you appreciate the Girl Scouts' stand on behalf of diversity. And please forward this message to all of your friends.

 

Send messages to: cmatsui@girlscouts.org

 

It's important that the Girl Scouts hear from us, since they are beginning to equivocate on their stand. Let them know that they are doing the right thing.

[ScoutNut]

I know considerably more than 3 Girl Scout paid professional staff, including some men, & all of them are married with children.

 

I have also known many camp counselors over the years, & to my knowledge none of them were gay.

 

Sleepovers & camping trips are not sex parties. At least none of the ones I have attended.

 

I would venture to guess that there are just as many gay Boy Scouts & Boy Scout Leaders as there are Girl Scouts & Girl Scout Leaders. However, none of the Boys have written "tell-all" books on the subject. Perhaps that is because they are afraid of repercussions from BSA, I really don't know.

 

As I said earlier - Girl Scouts is dedicated to EVERY girl, EVERYwhere, not just the politicaly correct ones. GSUSA even has outreach troops in some prisons.

 

This does not make every Girl Scout meeting a lesbian sex romp.

 

 

 

[fgoodwin]

ScoutNut, I apologize if you thought that was the impression I was trying to give from those two articles -- it wasn't.

 

I was trying to show, from two different points of view, that GSUSA has no policy of refusing lesbians as leaders, in answer to the question that was asked. I make no value judgement on their policy -- but the fact is, that is their policy.

 

Do you do agree that GSUSA's leadership policy does not exclude lesbians as leaders?

[ScoutNut]

The only folks GSUSA excludes from leadership are those that fail the reference & background checks.

 

However, National policy aside, after all checks are in, it is still up to the local council, or Service Unit, to accept or deny the leadership request.

 

Brian - the purposes of BSA & GSUSA are very, very similar, they just go about it in different ways. Scouting is about the kids & helping them to become the best young men & women that they can be.

 

Yes, GSUSA is against discrimination in any form. However to say that because of that fact, GSUSA promotes gay & homosexual issues, is like saying the BSA promotes white power issues. Neither is true, but there are plenty of tightly wound folks out there that think they are.

 

I hope your daughter was not to upset that her friend's mom would not let her go. Explain it to her as clearly as you can so she will not feel like HER Brownie Troop is suddenly, somehow "bad". BTW - How does your wife feel about it?

 

[ScoutMomAng]

Maybe this policy the Girl Scouts have is the reason my daughter and many of her friends wish they could be boy scouts!

 

They know they can join the Ventures when they are 14 but they are not the right age yet.

 

Next year my daughter will be a Juliette (Lone Scout) because she does not like how Girl Scouts is being run.

 

As for men leaders needing a second in charge...not necessarily so. I can tell you of one local troop here that is and has been run by a man for several years. And as far as I know he doesn't have another leader.

 

Council here does background checks also but that background check doesn't prove to be great. A background check run on anybody does not mean that you will find out if that person is gay or lesbian. You will not find out if that person is going to run off with the cookie money. All you are going to find out is whether that person has a criminal background.

 

While searching online one time I found a couple of ladies that started their own "Girl Scouts". It is christian based and run more like cub/boy scouts.

 

Ang

[KoreaScouter]

I'd like to clarify just one thing that Kwality stated in her post; that:

 

"Girl Scouts, unlike Boy Scouts, does not pre-emptively ask leaders (or scouts) about their sexual orientation."

 

Unless some councils are doing this on their own, BSA does not "pre-emptively" ask prospective leaders' sexual preference, either. It's nowhere on the adult application form, which, along with a check, is all we turn in. The only times this has become an issue is when the individuals make it one by making their sexuality a public issue.

 

KS

[ScoutNut]

"Maybe this policy the Girl Scouts have is the reason my daughter and many of her friends wish they could be boy scouts!"

 

 

What policy? The policy of being for "Every Girl Everywhere"? The policy of non-discrimination? Or is it the policy of accepting leaders if they pass reference & background checks?

 

No, background checks do not catch everyone. As, I think, the BSA will be the first to admit after all of their wonderful press this week about their National Director of Program & Youth Protection!

 

We can all only do our best.

 

 

"Next year my daughter will be a Juliette (Lone Scout) because she does not like how Girl Scouts is being run."

 

 

Just because she will be a Juliette does not mean she can make her own rules. A Juliette is still a Girl Scout & as such is bound by her council's rules & regulations. She will still be subject to "the way Girl Scouts is being run". She will just be doing it on her own instead of with a Troop.

 

 

[Snake Eater]

Here is an alternative organization http://www.ahgonline.org/

which was started because of GSA's policies.