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Transgender Boy Tries To Join Girl Scouts, Rejected Because Of "Boy Parts"
By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Oct 27, 2011
Modified Oct 27, 2011
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By
Jamie Feldmar
Published Oct 27, 2011
Modified Oct 27, 2011
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It makes sense for kids who like "girl stuff" to want to join Girl Scouts. But what do you do when that kid happens to be a boy? Well, if you're the Girl Scouts, you flip-flop on your response and ignite a national firestorm over who should and shouldn't be allowed to take part in the organization.
Seven-year-old Colorado boy Bobby Montoya says he "likes girl stuff:" he dresses and acts like a girl, and when his older sister joined Girl Scouts, he decided that he wanted to, too. But when Bobby's mother, Felisha Archuleta, took her son to register, a troop leader told her, "It doesn't matter how he looks, he has boy parts, he can't be in Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts don't allow that [and] I don't want to be in trouble by parents or my supervisor."
Archuleta says that Bobby identifies as a girl and she doesn't have a problem with it: "He's been doing this since he was about 2 years old. He's loved girl stuff, so we just let him dress how he wants, as long as he's happy." Bobby himself told CNN, "It's like hurting my heart. It hurts me and my mom both. Somebody told me I couldn't like girl stuff." Bobby's grandmother told the Daily News, "The [troop leader] was so rude and made him cry. I mean, he was devastated by what she said...This lady shouldn't be working with kids."
There is, however, a silver lining: when the Girl Scouts of Colorado heard that a local troop leader had denied Bobby, they released a statement saying that the leader was unaware of the organization's policy: “Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and 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.”
Archuleta has yet to decide whether she'll be taking Bobby back to the troop that turned him away. Here's a video of Bobby explaining the situation in his own words in an equally adorable and heartbreaking video:
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