Feathers Ruffled at Greater DC Girl Scout Council
by Cathy Ruse
January 27, 2012
The Girl Scout Council of the National’s Capitol is handing out a statement to people who are inquiring about the charges I and others have made about the far-Left agenda at Girl Scouts HQ. Let’s take a look:
Regarding the charge that the Girl Scouts’ official policy is to admit transgender toddlers, the statement reads: “Our Council has not dealt with requests from families of transgender youth. Our focus remains on girls in kindergarten through…” It does not say they will not admit transgender boys and in fact it is the national policy that they do so if ever there is a request.
More from their statement: “And, contrary to rumors, we do not make donations to this group [Planned Parenthood]. The fact is that as a charitable organization we do not make donations to any other organization.” We see your Straw Man, ladies! Nobody is claiming that you donate money to Planned Parenthood, so disclaiming it gets you nowhere. The charge is that you “partner with… Planned Parenthood organizations across the country,” in the words of Girl Scout CEO Kathy Cloninger on The Today Show.
More: “Girl Scouts of the USA is one of the 145 Member Organizations of WAGGGS, which promotes mutual understanding and cross-cultural opportunities for girls around the world.” Ah yes, they are touchy about the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, an aggressively pro-abortion organization which openly partners with the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Girl Scouts USA often makes the point that they are just one of many member organizations; they don’t like to admit that Girl Scouts USA is the single largest national component of WAGGGS, making up over a third of its 10 million members.
More: “the WAGGGS program is separate from our Girl Scout program, and your Girl Scout membership dues and cookie sales proceeds do not support WAGGGS.” Not so fast. Every little girl who signs up for the Girl Scouts is automatically made a member of WAGGGS, and there are apparently 6 different ways that Girls Scouts USA fund the radical WAGGGS. If Girl Scouts of the Nation’s Capitol refrains from every one of these 6 funding streams, they should prove it. Girl Scouts USA paid about 1.5 million dollars in “member quota” dues to WAGGGS in 2009.
Finally, a small change was in order to my blog on the Girl Scouts from yesterday. In the 4th FACT about Girl Scouts and abortion, I clarified that Girl Scout “councils” are regional and multi-county entities, since people tend to confuse troops with councils.
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By: Mary Hasson | January 27, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Thanks, Cathy, for your clear and straightforward take on this. The ‘we don’t fund Planned Parenthood’ line is the one the Girl Scouts keep repeating to the Catholic Church, in order not to lose the many troops that are based in Catholic parishes. But the real issue is not the straw man of ‘funding PP’–it’s that they promote pro-abortion role models, organizations, and resources, and maintain strong relationships with many pro-abortion and pro-LGBT organizations, including WAGGGS (as you rightly point out)—and all this in direct contradiction of the promise they make to parents, that they will take no position on sensitive issues and they will leave these issues in the hands of parents. It’s time for them to clean house or for good families to leave.