A California teen and ex-Girl Scout has set out to be one tough cookie.
Identified in news reports only as Taylor, from Ventura County, Calif., the 14-year-old girl is calling for a U.S.-wide boycott of Girl Scout cookies in protest of the organization's decision to admit a seven-year-old transgender child to a Colorado troop.
In a YouTube video, the teen accuses the Girl Scouts of the USA of "not being honest with us girls, its troops, its leaders, its parents or the American public" for allowing children born as boys to be part of its self-described "all-girl experience."
Wearing a silver cross and a sash encrusted with badges, Taylor adds: "Most disturbing to me and my family is they also admitted to have already placed transgender boys throughout America without letting everyone know."
The unusually articulate teen appears to be glancing at a script throughout the video, which ends in a plug for Honestgirlscouts.com. The website includes a downloadable cookie boycott flyerthat suggest revenues from cookie sales support abortion and "LGBT agendas."
The Girl Scouts of Colorado has said that the transgender seven-year-old was admitted in October on the basis of gender identification. "If a child is living as a girl, that's good enough for us. We don't require any proof of gender," Rachelle Trujillo, vice-president for communications of the Girl Scouts of Colorado, is quoted as saying.
Since then, three Girl Scout troops at a Christian school in Louisiana have disbanded in protest, the Christian Post reported.
Meanwhile, the cookie boycott aims to hit Girl Scouts where it hurts. An icon of childhood, dating from 1917, cookie sales raise funds for programs and activities, with 70 per cent of proceeds staying in the local Girl Scout council.
But it's hard to say whether the cookie boycott campaign will result in a sales drop – or a sudden uptick in orders for Thin Mints and Caramel DeLights in support of the organization's efforts to be inclusive.
For the Girl Scouts of the USA, the outcome could be sweet.
How do you feel about the push to politicize Girl Scout cookies?