In a passionate YouTube video that’s now been made private, a California teenager is attempting to spark a nationwide boycott of Girl Scout cookies as a result of the organization allowing a 7-year-old transgender child to join a Colorado troop this past fall.

The girl, identified as Taylor, claims to have been a Girl Scout for eight years and says her organization is using proceeds from sales of the cookies to “[promote] the desires of a small handful of people,” saying:

“Right now, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A…is not being honest with us girls, its troops, its leaders, its parents or the American public. Girl Scouts describes itself as an all-girl experience. 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. I am asking you to take action with me and boycott Girl Scout Cookies.”

Considering Taylor’s message has now been blocked, I’m assuming the head Girl Scout troopers got to her, but it’s interesting that she can be silenced all while the organization refuses to allow the concerns of the LGBTQ community to go unheard. Many people were extremely upset when transgender child Bobby Montoya was admitted to a Colorado troop last year, prompting the resignation of three Scout leaders in Louisiana who also dissolved their troops. But in a statement released by the Girl Scouts of Colorado through the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation they wrote, “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.”

What do you think about Taylor’s call for a national boycott of Girl Scout cookies? Do you agree with the organization’s policy to permit transgender girls to join?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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(Washington Post) — President Obama charted a middle course Wednesday for ending the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, outlining a departure plan that will remove troops faster than his commanders had requested but more slowly than many of his political allies would like.  In a prime-time address from the White House, Obama said he will bring home 10,000 U.S. troops by the end of the year and 23,000 more by next summer, a withdrawal window that will conclude two months before voters decide whether to give him a second term. The first troops will leave Afghanistan next month.   “Tonight,” the president said from the East Room, “we take comfort in knowing that the tide of war is receding.”  In contrast to his 2009 decision to send additional forces to Afghanistan, Obama appeared to give greater weight this time to the growing impatience of a war-weary public and a skeptical Congress, whose members have been demanding a rapid drawdown and a narrower mission after nearly a decade of battle.

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