1. Cut open my penis.
2. Remove the spongey erectile tissue. Make sure to leave the nerves and blood supply intact! We’ll need those!
3. Invert all that stuff up into my pelvic cavity.
4. Use that tissue and blood supply to make me a brand new clit.
5. Shorten my urethra – won’t be standing up to pee anymore!
6. Take the extra scrotal tissue and shape me a good labia.

Perfect! Now that’s what I want to see when I look in the mirror.Vaginoplasty, the surgery described above and what most people mean when they say “gender reassignment surgery,” is terrifying. My cock is a sensitive thing, even more so since going on hormones and getting more in touch with my sexual self. Even if I’ll be under anesthesia, the idea of all that happening to me – the cutting and the slicing and the moving about – is scary. Terrifying, even. Violent. Bloody-sounding. The type of thing out of a horror movie, not a consensual and desired and medically-accepted surgery.

We pretend surgery isn’t violent. That knife-to-flesh is an act of healing, of care. We need to, to get through it. I need to, anyway. And I will admit that surgery is controlled. When it’s done right, it’s not messy. But cutting and blood and pain and recovery necessitates an act  of violence. To recover, to have recovery time, means that there is something to recover from. The scars on my stomach, from my gallbladder removal, are the result of an act of violence. Pain-relieving, potentially life-saving (had the infection spread), and absolutely necessary violence.

The Surgery requires about a week in the hospital – a week, in this day and age of outpatient surgery – and months of post-op recovery. It costs tens of thousands of dollars, plus travel and assorted fees and random expenses. There’s a possibility, albiet a very small one,  that Il’l never be able to orgasm again. I know the general consensus – from among surgeons, post-op trans women, and my therapist – is that the ability orgasm is extremely common with modern surgery, and even more likely if the woman is orgasmic and actively sexual pre-surgery (which I am).

But still, the possibility of never being able to cum ever again, and paying twenty thousand dollars for the privilege?

So why am I doing this? Why am I researching surgeons, with the hope and intent of having The Surgery in the next 12-18 months? What the hell am I thinking?

I hate the cliches surrounding The Surgery: That it makes trans women feel complete. Whole. Like themselves. At home in their body. All the things you hear on talk shows and newscasts and radio and best-selling tell-alls.

And yet, for all the pride I take in my ability to use words to communicate how I feel, I’m struggling to come up with a better justification or explanation for why I’m planning to have The Surgery. Gender reassignment surgery. A vaginoplasty. To have my cock turned inside out, and become a cunt. I’ll go into a magical sleep, the vagina fairy will fly through the window, and I’ll wake up with an innie instead of an outie.

In some ways, it’s a logical and natural continuation down the path I’ve been traveling: hair removal and hormones and growing my hair out and makeup and dresses and presenting (and usually being perceived as) a “real” girl. Perhaps the question I should be asking is “Why wouldn’t I want The Surgery?”

(I want to take a moment to clarify that I do not think all trans people “should” or need to have any sort of surgery or medical intervention to be trans or to be happy or to be “real” men, women, or anything else. I am speaking only of my own experience, and my own journey.)

What frustrates me is that there’s something of an inability to fully feel something if you can’t express the feeling. George Orwell knew this:

In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.

Language matters.

Lets try this: I want surgery because….

• …when I imagine my idealized or ideal body, I imagine it with a vagina and not a penis.
• …I want to feel someone, something, myself, you, us inside my cunt.
• …I want to be able to wear tight clothing and bathing suits and dresses without resorting to tucking.
• …it would make me feel less different from other girls.

(Yes, I know that last sentence is problematic. Some of my favorite “other girls” in my life have cocks, too. But I’m trying to be honest with this list, even if my emotions or desires don’t always match my politics, and not self-censor.

Perhaps we use such cliches – at home in my own body, whole, complete – because language simply fails us. Difficult as it is to contemplate, maybe I don’t have the words to explain or justify why I want The Surgery.

But there is beauty in transformation. Flowers, butterflies, the changing of the seasons, growth and strength, the rush of blood and tightening of flesh. Of making myself who I am. Chipping away at rock until the final sculpture is made clear.  Hopefully I’m going in the right direction.

I think I am.

“When was your last period?”

“Do you think you might be pregnant?”

“What medication are you on? Are you on birth control?”

Those questions, most recently (and repeatedly) asked when I was in the hospital in 2010 to get my gallbladder removed. Doctors came in and asked. Nurses came in and asked. More doctors. More nurses.

To some extent, I accept the medical necessity of such questions. From one perspective, they’re affirming: the person asking assumes I’m a cisgender woman, complete with uterus, ovaries, and the ability to menstruate and get pregnant. From another perspective, they’re oppressive: they are making assumptions about my body, my identity. And for trans men, the opposite may be true: they may be menstruating, pregnant, have gynecological problems that doctors won’t or don’t know how to acknowledge and treat.

Fitting in makes other people’s lives easier. We live in a culture that says “You can be anything you want! If you can dream it, you can do it! Reach for the stars!” But when you’ve reached, when you’ve become that thing you want, can only be that thing. Not more than one thing. Not one thing one day, and something else the next. Self identification is one thing, but ambiguity (perceived or real) is something else entirely.

Being queer – and especially being trans – is in part an act of redefinition. At least I’ve found that to be true. From the most obvious “gay sex act,” anal, there’s a reappropriation of what body parts mean. Asshole only for waste? Nope! For pleasure, too! That type of redefinition makes questions like “When did you last have sex?” somewhat silly in a medical context. Well, I always reply, define sex! Oral, anal, vaginal, hangs, toys, straps, harnesses, what does sex mean?

More abstractly, my trans-ness allows (requires) some redefinition of my body. My penis isn’t male, in spite of being the “male sex organ.” My penis – my body, my identity, my self – is female, inherently and completely. Even if/when I have penis-in-vagina “real sex,” it’s a lesbian, queer, subversive, redefining-my-body act.

I’ve drifted from healthcare. I’ll try to get back on track. Sex is just so distracting! ::grin::

I’d argue queer healthcare is the same type of thing as queer therapy or queer theatre or queer anything. Queer is the adjective, modifying the noun: healthcare, therapy, theatre. The healthcare service needs to fundamentally be good healthcare, before it can be queer healthcare. If there isn’t knowledge, comfort, caring, it can’t be any kind of good healthcare. There needs to be a knowledgeability of what ‘sex’ can mean in the queer community. How bodies and body parts are defined. An acknowledgement and understanding of the existence of spousal abuse even in same-sex couples. And yes, knowledge of how queer sex acts and/or populations can lead to STDs.

But, at its core, it needs to be healthcare. Care relating to one’s health. Lets start there.

During the workshop, however, something came up that I had not previously considered. Specifically, someone asked about how trans youth are (medically) treated. I said that it varies, but that there’s an increasing use of hormone blockers to delay puberty. This allows a twelve or thirteen year old to age a few years and – hopefully – be able to make a more informed decision about transitioning. In my I-am-not-a-doctor opinion, it’s a good compromise: simply doing nothing can result in spending thousands of dollars to undo puberty, but launching fully into hormone replacement therapy opens the door to a twelve year old realizing they weren’t really trans at thirteen or fourteen.

Ultimately, I said to the questioner, there isn’t a perfect solution. Once a child realizes they’re trans, it’s a matter of picking the best choice from some bad options. Which, to be very clear, doesn’t mean that being trans condemns an individual to a life of misery. But it does, as far as I can see, necessitate some tough decisions and a difficult journey.

The questioner then posed something that has been bouncing around my brain this past week: Could allowing fifteen and sixteen year olds to be making informed consent decisions about their healthcare lead to the criminal justice system saying they were able to make informed decisions about crimes, and should thus be tried as adults?

I don’t think she was talking specifically about trans youth committing crimes, but looking at things from a more general question angle. That is, how do we as a society determine in which areas teens are able to make life decisions, and in which they’re not?

For the record, I am very against youth being tried as adults or sentenced to death.[1] At the same time, I do think teens should have some say over their healthcare. In particular, I know what my decision would have been had someone asked, “Do you want to go through puberty as a boy, or wait a bit and go through it as a girl?” There wouldn’t have been any question in my mind. But how do we – or can we – distinguish those areas of judgement?

The first thing that leaps to mind is the difference between “this decision impacts myself” and “this decision impacts others.” Transitioning, at its core, is about changing the self. Crime, at its core, is about impacting others. Which is really why crimes are, well, crimes.[2] So there’s a difference between a teen saying “I know enough about myself and my actions to change my body” and society saying “a teen knows enough about how their actions will impact others externally, so their crime should result in prosecution as an adult.”

But I know it’s not that simple. I can – looking back – say with 100% certainty, “I wish I had transitioned earlier, and I really wish I hadn’t gone through  puberty in the first place.” I know lots of trans people who would say the same thing. At the same time, as an educator who works with teens, it’s scary to think of a student of mine (let alone a child of mine) making such big decisions. Kids’ identities change so much from day to day, that – as an adult – believing something can be that constant feels like a leap of faith.

I suspect that one’s sense of gender, however, is fundamental enough and develops early enough for most people that – by fourteen or fifteen – they do know who they are. Or, at least, they can. Even if they don’t know how they’re going to express themselves, who they’re going to sleep with, what they want to do when they grow up. They can know who they are.

We can know who we are.

[1] – I’m also against the death penalty, period, but that’s only tangentially related to this topic.
[2] – This is why, in my opinion, drugs and prostitution should be legal, regulated, and safe.

I really transitioned to get into bars for free, without having to pay cover.

I really transitioned because I heard there weren’t enough women in science, and I wanted to do my part.

I really transitioned so I could drink sweet pink drinks at bars without being judged.

I really transitioned because when I paint my toes pink, I want to be a boy with pink toenails!

I really transitioned so I could wear tight pants all the time without looking like a member of an 80′s rock band.

I really transitioned because I wanted to save on car insurance.

I really transitioned because the clothes are *way* better (so i still wear BDUs and t-shirts most of the time)

I really transitioned because I was born on Stonewall Day.

Thank you for joining the Cocks of Love team! Through your contribution of time and energy, we are able to offer our award-winning service to transgender and transsexual (trans) clients around the globe. In this time of economic downturn, our services are more important than ever.

What we Do

Cocks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides body parts to financially disadvantaged trans individuals suffering from misaligned physical development for any reason. We meet a unique need for trans clients by using donated body parts to create the highest quality replacement body components

Our mission is to provide a sense of self, confidence, and normalcy to transgender and transsexual individuals by providing proper body parts for physical completeness. Our clients receive body parts free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on needs.

Our Process

Take two hypothetical clients: John and Jane. John is a trans man. He has breasts, a vagina, and reproductive organs he will not be using. Jane is a trans woman. She has body hair, muscle mass, and a penis she will not using. Cocks of Love allows us to match John and Jane and provide expert medical care for the safe and lasting swap of unwanted body parts. John ends up with the cock he’s always wanted, and Jane sports her new breasts with pride.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Where do I go for my body part swap?
A. Cocks of Love works with a network of healthcare providers to provide the highest quality of service. When you are ready for your body part swap, contact Cocks of Love and we will discuss the next steps.

Q. What body parts can I swap or donate?
A. As every client is different, we do not maintain a comprehensive list of swap-able body parts. Past clients have swapped body hair, muscle mass, penis, vagina, breasts, buttocks, vocal cords, and more.

Q. Is my body part swap or  donation tax deductible?
A. Please check with your tax preparer. We cannot  place a monetary value on a body part.

Q. If I send in pictures, will you post them on your website?
A. We do update our donor gallery from time to time, but cannot guarantee that all the pictures we receive will be posted. We also use photos in our newsletters and post them around our office.

Q. Do you help both men and women?
A. We do not limit our clients’ gender identity. As such, we accept clients regardless of whether they identify as male, female, genderqueer, or otherwise.

And a short-but-adorable video:

In other news, the original video from Taylor has been taken down. A troop in Louisiana disbanded, even though the trans scout was in Colorado. The latest response I can find from the Scouts is still that “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.”

On behalf of myself, and on behalf of all non-normatively-gendered individuals, I apologize. I am sorry for being confusing. For being scary. For being strange. For being icky. I am sorry for raising awkward questions about what female and male means. I am sorry for not fitting into one box or the other. I’m sorry for questioning the need for boxes at all. I’m sorry for androgyny and ambiguity and flexibility and spectra and rainbows of infinite possibilities.

I’m sorry for my body. I’m sorry for having breasts that are the result of orally-taken hormones and not of gonadally produced hormones. For having skin that is smooth due to those hormones and thousands of dollars of hair removal. I’m sorry for having a penis between my legs, being able to pee standing up, being an outie instead of an innie. I’m sorry shopping is such a chore, that I can’t wear those yoga pants or that ever-so-cute dress without tucking my cock up between my legs and securing it with medical tape, I’m sorry my boobs are nice and perky because they came in at 23 instead of 13. I’m sorry for my physical strength, something I’ll always doubt it’s from working out and assume it was from the testosterone coursing through my system for twenty-plus years. I’m sorry for my wide shoulders, my big feet, my hairy toes. I’m sorry for my occasionally ambiguous voice, for still occasionally getting “sir”ed on the phone, for causing double-takes. 

I’m sorry for being a sexual person. For enjoying to fuck and be fucked. In my mouth, between my legs, up my ass. For bending partners over and being bent over. I’m sorry that the sex is better than it ever was before transitioning, that my moans might keep you up at night, that the drawer next to my bed is filled with lube and vibrators and straps and butt-plugs. I’m sorry that I know my sexual topography better than you will ever know yours, because I’ve been forced to explore mine, blessed to explore mine, like a brave adventurer entering a strange new land. I’m sorry that my nipples grow like my cock grows like my need grows until it makes me want to scream and orgasms wreak my body until I vibrate like a tuning fork. I’m sorry for turning you on, making you wet, making you hard, for confusing your sense of sexuality and your sense of your self. I’m sorry you have to “figure some things out,” that you “aren’t sure what this means,” that you’ve “never been with someone like me before.”

I’m sorry for being so insistent. For refusing to use the private, single-stall bathroom and demanding to use the women’s room. For making a stink about names and pronouns. For calling you out when you get it wrong, over and over and over again. For being a voice of frustration and angst and depression.

I’m sorry for being so angry. For letting it boil and bubble and spill out of my mouth and onto the page and the stage and into my voice and through my spine. For standing tall and walking down the street. I’m sorry for my bitter tone, my condescending look, my frustrated sigh. I’m sorry my anger has crept up my body and through my veins and into my hair and my fingernails and my tear ducts until, like play-doh being squeezed through a tube, every pore of my body exudes my rage.

I’m sorry for wanting more. Legal protection, medical coverage, equal rights, safe bathrooms, safe jails, safe treatment from police and teachers and students and peers and strangers on the street. I’m sorry that I won’t step back, step aside, step down. I’m sorry, but that isn’t enough, it’s not good enough, I don’t see your point, I can’t compromise. I’m sorry that I’m tired (exhausted, really) of explaining at great length to you what seems so obvious to me.

I’m sorry, but I lied. I’m not sorry at all.

Exclusions. Covered expenses of the Plan shall not include … procedures, treatments, equipment, transplants, or implants, any of which are … for, or resulting from, a gender transformation operation. – 215 Illinois Compiled Statutes 105 – Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan Act

It’s unclear whether the State of Illinois has defined – through statute or the courts – what specifically “gender transformation operation” means. But it seems pretty safe to assume that the surgery I’m currently considering would fall under its purview. Surgery in which the “spongiform erectile tissue of the penis is removed, and the skin, with its nerves and vascular system (blood supply) still attached, is used to create a vestibule area and labia minora, which then are inverted into the neovaginal cavity created in the pelvic tissue.” That seems pretty gender transformative to me.

What’s interesting about the Illinois Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan Act (or the ICHIP Act) is what other injuries, procedures, and categories of coverage are excluded.  Gender transformation operations (item 14.iv on the list of exclusions) is lumped in with cosmetic surgery (item 1), anything which exceeds “reasonable or customary” cost (item 4), injury due to war (item 9) , services that are “not provided in accord with generally accepted standards of current medical practice” (item 14), contraceptives (item 19), weight loss programs (item 21), acupuncture (22). Interestingly enough, the act itself does not, as best as I could find, mention abortion or early termination of a pregnancy, but the ICHIP website stil says such services are excluded.

And then there’s my favorite exclusion. Item thirteen. “Blank.” The item isn’t actually blank, but the text reads open-parentheses-b-l-a-n-k-close-parentheses. Blank. I’m assuming there was an item thirteen, but it was removed by some later amendment I’ve been unable to find. Either that or the Illinois State Legislature was worried about the superstitious ramifications of having an exclusion number thirteen. But that seems unlikely, because there is a benefit item number thirteen (diagnostic x?rays and laboratory tests). The ways of government legislatures are opaque and confusing.

As far as I can tell, gender reassignment surgery (or gender transformation operation, or sex change, or whatever you want to call it) is the only accepted standard of medical practice (to use the ICHIP ACT language) explicitly excluded. Nowhere else did the Illinois Legislature say, “Doctors recommend this treatment. There are safe and reasonable guidelines for its use. It has been shown to be beneficial to patients. But there’s no way in hell we’re going to pay for it.”

Because the Illinois State Legislature is obviously the best-equipped body to decide medical coverage and treatment.

Dear Taylor,

I wish we could sit down and talk. I’d like to think you would be willing to have a conversation with someone who honestly wants to find common ground. I’ve watched your video, and it really moved me. You delivered your message with skill, grace, and emotion – I wish my high school students were as comfortable speaking in front of an audience as you clearly are.

That said, a lot of what was in your video was hurtful to me. I’m not sure if you meant to hurt my feelings, or the feelings of people like me, but your video was painful for me to see. Because I’m a transgender woman. That means that I was born in the body of a boy, but realized I was actually a girl. I’ve been on hormones for a few years now, to help my body match my mind. And a lot of the things you said about what it means to be transgender didn’t match my experience, or the experience of other trans people I know.

Since watching your video, I’ve been researching the Girl Scouts, and I’d like to print the Girl Scout Law, which I found here. I admit I don’t know a lot about Scouting, but I think The Girl Scout Law is a good place to start what I hope can be a conversation between you and I:

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.

That’s a pretty good code of conduct to try and live by. I’m sure not every Girl Scout lives up to every bit, one hundred percent of the time, but I’m sure you try. I’d like to think that I’m honest and fair, friendly and helpful, and all the other positive qualities in the Girl Scout Law.

I don’t think your video was honest and fair, Taylor.

Transgender stuff can be confusing. Believe me, I know. But you got a few things wrong in your video, and I’d like to help correct them. I think it would make your video more honest and fair. Lets start with one of your video overlays. It’s near the beginning, and the text on your video said “Transgender Girl Scout = boy who wants to be a girl.”

I’m afraid that’s not what it means to be transgender. The simplest way to put it, although it’s really more complicated, is that our gender – what makes us a boy or a girl – is in our head, not between our legs. You aren’t a girl because of what’s between your legs. Neither am I. You’re a girl because you know you are one. That would be true if you had long hair or short, wore pants or dresses, painted your nails or played in the mud. Or did some of those things one day, and something else on another.

Likewise, I’m a girl because I know I am one. It’s a little more complicated for me, since what is between my legs doesn’t match what most people expect when they think ‘girl.’ But part of being respectful of others – something else the Girl Scout Law mentions – is letting every person decide for themselves who they are. I would never say that you need to enjoy playing with dolls, or be good at basketball, or know how to sail a boat. I don’t get to decide who you are; you get to decide that.

But that also means that you don’t get to decide who I am. What kind of books I like to read, who my friends are, or whether I’m a boy or a girl. No matter what I look like or sound like or anything. No one but me gets to decide whether I’m a boy or a girl.

And so when your video asked, in overlay text, “Is it safe to hide boys in Girl Scouts?” I didn’t really understand who was hiding. Because a transgender girl – like the one welcomed into a Colorado troupe – is a girl just like any other Scout. And to reject her, or any other girl, doesn’t seem very friendly or sisterly (two more qualities the Girl Scout Law emphasizes).

Your video also talks about safety, and that’s a very important issue. No Girl Scout – or anyone else – should ever be forced into a situation where they are unsafe. But why would a transgender Girl Scout – someone like me – make you any less safe than any other Girl Scout? To assume I would make you unsafe doesn’t seem respectful, considerate, or caring, three more qualities included in the Girl Scout Law.

Finally, I want to talk to you about Honest Girl Scouts, the organization you mention at the end of your video. Honest Girl Scouts doesn’t seem to follow the Girl Scout Law. It’s not a very nice website. It talks about Girl Scout council’s “entanglements with dubious issues.” Issues like access to informative, safe-sex education. Issues like equality and pride. It looks at all of those issues as bad, and Girl Scouts USA is bad for promoting them. Honest Girl Scouts may be honest, but it’s the honesty of a bully or a mean classmate you thought was a friend.

I hope this letter helped clarify some of the issues you raised in your video. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I wish you nothing but luck as you determine how best to be courageous and speak out for issues you believe in, while still being respectful of others.

Best,

-Rebecca

But for those of you who don’t have the energy to watch eight minutes of anti-trans rhetoric, or in case the video is taken down, here’s a transcript. I was as accurate as possible, and will be responding to the video (and the boycott) itself in a later post. There were text overlays throughout the video, but I included them only when they seem important. The video uses incorrect pronouns throughout.

Hello. I’ve been a Girl Scout for eight years. So why would I ask you to boycott Girl Scout cookies?

One reason is that I have  been taught by Girl Scouts to advocate for my beliefs and to discover, connect, and take action when I see something I want to change in the world.

The problem is what I want to help change is Girl Scouts. Right now, Girl Scouts of the USA (or GSUSA) is not being honest with us girls, its troupes, its leaders, its parents, or the American public. Do you know that in Oct 2011 Girl Scouts admitted that they allow transgender boys from kindergarten through the twelfth grade? In fact, CO Girl Scouts VP for Communications Rachel Trujillo was quoted in an article by Baptist Press. The article, entitled “Girl Scouts Admitting a Boy Draws Backlash,” has Ms Trujillo saying this,

“We accept all girls in kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child identifies as a girl, and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.” [EDIT: I can't find this original article. If anyone can, I'd love to see it.]

That means that as long as a boy wants to be a girl, they’ll let him join based solely on his wishes and desires.

OVERLAY TEXT: “Transgender Girl Scout = boy who wants to be a girl”

Another part of the same article,

‘Councils can make these decisions on a case by case basis,’ Ms Trujillo said. ‘If a child is living as a girl, that’s good enough for us. We don’t require any proof of gender…”

But most disturbing to me and my family, is they also admitted to having already placed transgender boys throughout America without letting anyone know.

OVERLAY TEXT: “Is that honest…?”

Quote:

“Transgender children are currently serving in Girl Scout troops in the US, Trujillo said, although she declined to give details. “There are other councils that have transgendered girls and it’s working out fine,” she said.

So, what’s wrong with that? For one reason, Girl Scouts describes itself as an all girl experience.

OVERLAY TEXT: “Girl Scouts = no male”

With that label, families trust that the girls will be in an environment that is not only nurturing and sensitive to girls’ needs, but also safe for girls.

OVERLAY TEXT: “Is it safe to hide boys in Girl Scouts?”

In fact, the Girl Scout Research Institute has spent many thousands of dollars – dollars we raised for them through cookie sales and donations – making the argument that all-girl groups are important to girls in a publication called ‘Ten Emerging Truths: New Directions for Girls 11-17.”

In Ten Emerging Truths, they argue how important it is for girls to be free from a coed environment in a section called “Truth Number 4: Girls Connecting With Each Other Connects Them To You.” Let me read a couple of lines from this section:

“Among girls 11-17, 92% identified the top advantage of being in an all-girl group is that it allows you to relate to other girls because they are experiencing the same problems as you… You can talk about different things with girls that you just can’t with boys. You can just be yourself and who you are, not something that you’re not.”

They even have a chart on page 18 showing the data from their research, that in all-girl groups it is easier to:

• Relate to other girls
• Talk about issues you can’t talk about in front of boys
• Be yourself
• Look how you want to look

So if Girl Scouts claims they provide an all-girl experience, but then they admit boys without letting girls and their parents know about it, isn’t that deceptive?

OVERLAY: “Where do transgender boys sleep on overnights? Which bathrooms do they use?”

More importantly, for  years, Girl Scouts have required all leaders and volunteers to follow safety guidelines called Safety Wise. Regarding overnight safety, on page 88 this book states:

“Separate sleeping and bathroom facilities must be provided for adult males accompanying the group.”

So, if a man is not allowed to share a tent with girls, what would you call a  twelfth grade boy  who turns eighteen years old? Even more telling is a significant revision Girl Scouts made to Safety Wise, in a publication called Volunteer Essentials Chapter 4 (Safety Wise, October 11, 2011). That states:

“Ensure that no girl is treated differently. Girl Scouts welcomes all members, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, background, culture, sexual orientation, gender…”  [EDIT: I think the document she's referring to is this. The text she discusses is on page 17 and does, indeed, read as indicated.]

OVERLAY: Boys can join Girl Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation?

So Girl Scouts admits that different genders – or boys – can enter Girl Scouts and that they don’t require proof of their gender, either. Then really any boy can join Girl Scouts by simply saying he wants to be a Girl Scout. But the real question is, why is GSUSA willing to break their own safety rules and go against its own research institute findings to accommodate transgender boys?

Unfortunately, I think it is because GSUSA cares more about promoting the desires of a small handful of people than it does for my safety, and the safety of my friends and sister Girl Scouts. And they are doing it with money we earned for them from Girl Scout cookies and money we pay them for uniforms, books, patches, and anything with the Girl Scout logo on it. That is why I am connecting with you now. I am asking you to take action with me and boycott Girl Scout cookies. I ask all fellow Girl Scouts who want a true, all-girl experience not to sell any cookies until GSUSA addresses our concerns. I ask all parents of Girl Scouts who want their Girl Scouts to be in a safe environment to tell their leaders why you will not allow your girls to make any more money for GSUSA

There are better ways to fund troops. Try a garage sale. My troop did, and we earned more money in less time. We asked friends and family to just make a donation to our troop, instead of buying cookies. Every $5 donation, is equivalent to selling 8 to 13 boxes of cookies.

I also ask the American public to boycott purchasing Girl Scout cookies. There are better ways to support Girl Scout girls. You can still support your favorite Girl Scout without giving GSUSA more pocket money. Right now, GSUSA and councils are focused on adult agendas that have nothing to do helping girls.

OVERLAY: GSUSA funnels money to adult agendas like transgender promotion

Cookie sales enrich GSUSA and regional councils, allowing them to make unwanted changes to Scouting, without considering the people who are earning all that money for them: the girls and their families. The worst part is, they are not being honest with us. For more information on how Girl Scout organizations have moved away from serving girls and many, many more reasons to boycott Girl Scout cookies, go to honestgirlscouts.com