Remember back in October, when Bobby Montoya, an adorable seven-year-old boy who "likes girl stuff" drew national attention because he wanted to join his local Girl Scouts troop? Well, nearly two months later, Christian leaders of three Girl Scout troops in Louisiana are reacting with disgust, quitting their posts and disbanding their troops because Montoya was allowed to join.
Susan Bryant-Snure, a mother and former Troop leader at Northland Christian School in Lacombe, Louisiana, called the decision to admit Montoya "extremely confusing" and an "almost dangerous situation" for children. "It goes against what we believe," she said. Bryant-Snure is thinking about re-aligning her dismantled troop with American Heritage Girls, a conservative Christian group which was organized in 1995 in protest to the Girl Scouts' decision to allow scouts to replace the word "God" in scout teachings with another word or phrase representing a personal image of God.
As for Montoya, he hasn't actually joined the troop in his hometown in Colorado, though he will be allowed to do so if he so chooses. "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," the Colorado chapter said in its official statement. "If a child is living as a girl," said chapter vice president Rachelle Trujillo, "that's good enough for us. We don't require any proof of gender. It's absolutely a case-by-case basis. There's not any rational fear of Girl Scouts being overrun by boys."
