Neither rain nor sleet nor horrifically early first snowfall of the not-right-season will stop Sunday Funday from bringing you good news. Seriously! Just ask the delivery pup:
This week people are happy with their gender identity in the Girl Scouts, lesbians are becoming Prom Kings, and everyone is married and with adoption papers. Plus, there’s a multitude of animals in costume.
Girls Scouts Are Great All Around
The Girl Scouts of Colorado released a statement this week to show their support for transgender youth:
“Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members,” the statement says. “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 statement was released in reaction to the recent exclusion of a child who identified as a girl in a Colorado troop. Bobby Montoya was rejected from a Denver troop because she has “boy parts.”
Corey Barett of the GLBT Center of Colorado is also thankful for the policy:
“Our requests for support of transgender kids have grown, and Girl Scouts of Colorado is working to best support these children, their families and the volunteers who serve them.”
But the Girl Scouts is also making an effort to shape girls of today into more successful and fulfilled women in the 21st century, and recently modernized their badge options to get girls on the forefront of new and rising industries and technologies:
As the Girl Scouts approach their 100-year anniversary in March, they are introducing a whole new lineup of badges. Way back in 1913, the organization had badges like Flyer and Electrician to represent those trailblazing professions. Today, girls live in vastly different times and have wider opportunities in business leadership. With that in mind, Jump worked with the Girl Scouts to develop a badge program to expose girls to cutting-edge fields such as web design and social innovation.
The badges are also much groovier than the ones I got as a Daisy:
UN Speaks Out for Women
The UN just issued a new report with a clear message: it’s time for a hands-off, people! Turns out the UN thinks restricting abortion access, ruining sex education, and letting everyone but women decide what’s best for them is pretty gosh-darn repulsive:
Public morality cannot serve as a justification for enactment or enforcement of laws that may result in human rights violations, including those intended to regulate sexual and reproductive conduct and decisionmaking. […]
Criminal prohibition of abortion is a very clear expression of State interference with a woman’s sexual and reproductive health because it restricts a woman’s control over her body, possibly subjecting her to unnecessary health risks. Criminal prohibition also requires women to continue unplanned pregnancies and give birth when it is not their choice to do so.
Gillibrand Leads Way on Adoption
Senator Kristen Gillibrand introduced legislation Friday that would end adoption practices that exclude LGBT parents across the nation:
The Every Child Deserves a Family Act would eliminate state laws, policies and practices that exclude prospective adoptive and foster parents because of marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity. More than 400,000 children await homes in the nation’s foster care system, and some 100,000 are waiting to be adopted.
Gillibrand called New York state a “leader” in LGBT adoption. The state increased its foster pool by 128,000 prospective parents when they lifted similar barriers on adoption.
San Diego’s Lesbo Homecoming King
The first lesbian homecoming royal couple in the United States ever might be in the works at San Diego’s Patrick Henry High School. Rebecca Arellano, a senior at the school, was made the first female homecoming king Friday. Haileigh Adams, her girlfriend, was also nominated for homecoming queen.
The couple has garnered support and, obviously, some haters. But Adams is rising above:
“We feel like we’re actually making a difference and making people feel proud of change,” she said. “The support is keeping us from feeling too hurt about the negative feedback. The support is what really matters and it is what’s going to help us move forward.”
Plus, they’re both totally and completely adorable:
A Gender-Bending Gay Marriage Story
Two British trans lesbians just married in the UK.
Women Making Beer
Slate‘s piece on female brewmasters and their craft breweries is a great read because girls and beer are both great:
Ask someone to imagine a brewmaster and the image that may come to mind is a barrel-chested fellow in overalls, maybe even lederhosen. Brewing is currently seen as a male field, but it wasn’t always this way. What’s believed to be the world’s oldest written recipe is for beer, and it celebrates a female brewmaster. Four-thousand-year-old Mesopotamian clay tablets describe the brewing process in a hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer. From ancient Sumeria through medieval Europe, women ruled the kettles.
People Like Gay Partnerships, People
+ Conan O’Brien will be officiating a gay wedding on his television show in an upcoming episode. It’s part of a series of shows honoring his one-year anniversary with TBS.
+ In New Jersey, a majority of voters say gay marriage should be legal.
+ New York City Governor Andrew Cuomo, who recently pushed gay marriage legislation through the state and unleashed a steady stream of adorable stories and photos of loving gay people for days and weeks to come, was honored Thursday night for his efforts at the Empire State Pride Agenda dinner in Manhattan. And he has a lot to say about gay people and their general well-being:
“Nationwide, there are no federal anti-discrimination laws for LGBT and there need to be. There are no federal antidiscrimination laws for housing, or for employment. DOMA has to go away once and for all. We need a real anti-bullying program in this state and in this nation. […]
“And we need marriage equality in every state in this nation. Otherwise no state really has marriage equality. And we will not rest until it is a reality.”
UFC President: Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are
A Las Vegas chapter of the Culinary Union and other groups recently called the Ultimate Fighting Championship “an anti-gay organization.” An online petiton to Fox and a letter to UFC’s sponsor, Anheuser-Husch, used statements by UFC President Dana White to create proof of UFC’s “homophobic conduct.”
But White is offended by that accusation, and recently spoke out to say so. But maybe not with too much tact:
“I’ll tell you right now, if there was a gay fighter in UFC, I wish he would come out,” UFC President Dana White said Thursday. “I could care less if there’s a gay fighter in the UFC. There probably is and there’s probably more than one […]
“That’s the only one that bothers me — the fact that these losers from the Culinary Union can go out and say that I’m a homophobe and things like that — because it’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
CUTE OVERLOAD: Animals In Costume
Halloween is right around the corner. Do you know what you want to be? It’d probably be easier to decide if you were an adorable, fuzzy animal.
Or like Eli the Great Pumpkin.
So can girls join boy scouts?? No joke I always wanted to be a boy scout because I thought they did more exciting things.
I don’t think so. Because it’s not that Girl Scouts is letting a boy join them, it’s that they are letter a transgender girl join. I think the rules would still say that the group is limited to girls and Boy Scouts is limited to boys. And that’s ok. They just aren’t discriminating against girls and boys who aren’t cisgender.
Actually, in some states (like Massachusetts) there are coed Boy Scout organizations. I don’t know how they feel about transgender youth though.
The Scouts in Australia are co-ed, too.
Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts are totally separate organizations so the policies of the Girl Scouts have nothing to do with what the Boy Scouts do. And yeah, like Lucinda said, the Girl Scouts aren’t letting in a boy, they’re letting in a girl. And I feel like I can say with confidence that if a transgender boy tried to join the Boy Scouts there would be no similar announcement because they are homophobic and I’m sure transphobic as well.
Yeah, considering the Boy Scouts takes away Eagle Awards from gay members, I’m pretty sure they would NOT be down with the idea of trans scouts. UGH.
Good on the Girl Scouts for that policy. It makes me proud to be a part of the organization.
Uh…maybe it’s different in Canada, but I went to Cubs, then Scouts as a young women. Pretty damn fun, though you really had to toughen up being the only girl. (Little boys can really be dicks.)
Never knew in some states boy scouts allowed girls, didn’t know the British one is coed and that is freaking awesome that in Canada you could go to Cubs. I looked it up locally here in Texas and as a female from 14-20 you could do Venturing but you still cannot join cub scouts or boy scouts. Which would be cool cause I totally would’ve when I was younger…
when i was growing up, girls of a certain age could join venture scouts which is a co-ed branch of boy scouts, but they couldn’t join boy scouts proper. as far as i know that’s still true. but they are also super homophobic so they are also probably pretty transphobic too.
The Boy Scouts have a co-ed division called Venture Crew. I have several friends (both male and female) who were in it in high school.
However, the Boy Scouts really aren’t down with gays in general, as their roots are pretty conservative Christian. Technically you have to be religious to be a Boy Scout; I remember when my friend was getting his Eagle Scout he was mildly concerned someone was going to ask him what church he went to and he was going to have to be like, “..um… I’m an atheist”
The Girl Scouts are WAY more liberal than the Boy Scouts. They take pride in being nondenominational.
This is more the girlscouts stating that they won’t discriminate against trans* girls rather than allowing boys to join,
Beyond that, the Girlscouts of America and Boyscouts of America are different organizations. At a local level, stuff tends to be chill. But at higher levels, the BoA are enthusiastic proponents of discrimination against queer people and I’m willing to bet if they ever thought about it, they’d be equally discriminatory against trans* people.
Girlscouts, on the other hand, has been pretty supportive in a hands-off way (“a girls sexuality is between her and her parents” was the official rule when I was there. Basically no discrimination, but no badges for queer acticism). But it looks like they may be stepping it up a notch.
Hi! I was a boy scout. I’m a girl. There were actually like five girls…I took a judo class run by the boy scouts…it required membership….no one cared. I’m not sure if that only applies to the teen programs (was it explorer scouts? I forget) or all of the boy scout things but hey, it happened.
PS this was a decade or so ago so….
But yeah, it was cool and then my little co ed group went with our judo instructors to some boy scout camping thing and THAT was hilarious/awkward because apparently, we were the only girls. But whatever, we got to shoot rifles and hike with our awesome 70 year old sensei and he was AMAZING so there’s that.
I watched video about it and it seems Bobby Montoya was excluded from girl scouts because he and his family still use male pronouns. If he and his mother had been using female pronouns I don’t think they’d have had any issues.
I love Cuomo.
Thanks for clarifying that! I always wanted to be in boy scouts cause I had nothing but friends in boy scouts (boys obviously). That’s good they are cool with transgender kids! That’s really cool and then the girls being homecoming king and queen! I heard one of the guys was considering himself a winner still because she isn’t a he blah blah but a lot of people put him in his place! I wish that was around when I had two friends who were dating since sophomore year too and were really adorable together but here in Texas I’m sure that would’ve really pissed people off
Should been under where Lucinda commented… Curse this iPod touch…
“iPods cause drama” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9YFwr9ILcM)
ah I barely followed the link today while in class and I started like laughing resulting in me choking on my drink at the same time. My instructor asked why I thought Food Inc. was funny… lol
Yay Girl Scouts! I feel like people weren’t even talking about transgender children when I was a girl scout (back in the stone ages, aka the Nineties). And now there’s a whole nondiscriminatory policy. I hope male-identified trans* children can join Boy Scouts too.
Thank you for reporting on the Girl Scouts story. It is very close to my life because my roommate works for Girl Scouts and Cory Barrett is my supervisor at my internship. I heard about it a while back, but I had no idea this story would go national so quickly. Girl Scouts is a pretty rad organization and it seems like they’re pretty proactive about staying relevant and progressive.
I’m going to guess that the boy scouts are much less cool and progressive than the girl scouts. Like, its the boy scouts. They love to hate gays.
It makes me so happy to hear about the homecoming story! My girlfriend and I were nominated for Prom King and Queen in high school, however the teacher who supervised the prom committee came to us and said only one of us would be allowed to run, no reason given. We both dropped out of the running because both of us only wanted to be crowned if the other one could be too. All of our friends got extraordinarily angry at us and said we should stages protests etc. etc., and maybe we should have in hindsight. But we just let it go because we’re kind of laid back hippies! That was 4 years ago, so I think it’s wonderful to hear things have progressed since even then! Sincere congratulations to the homecoming couple!!
that cat is a chicken AND a pumpkin? genius.
I totally and completely agree with you about the adorableness of this totally and completely adorable couple.
the story of the trans lesbians is quite interesting (and awesome).
I always thought being gay is much more about same-sex attraction then it is about being into women/men.so if you changing so is your sex and the sex you are attracted to.
for scientific proof watch the l word.
‘so if you ARE changing….’Damnit!
I have never been so proud of my past as a brownie and girl scout! I think I still have some of my old manuals tucked away somewhere…
I have a pirate hat for my cat, it’s yet to be seen how many scars I will get for forcing her to wear it for five minutes
The homecoming king and her girlfriend are completely adorable.
Calling her a homecoming king is kind of weird to me since she’s female-identified presumably. Why not just have two homecoming queens? What would be the problem with that?
Voting for homecoming king and queen is weird to me in general because I went to a high school where it was chosen by the teachers…
i agree with the prom king note. my high school didn’t have prom but those two girls should probably just be called homecoming lesbos or something to honor that they are in fact not a straight dude and a straight girl.
I like the idea of a woman being King. I don’t think it should negate her gender identification =P
But yes, proms etc should probably introduce some kind of neutral title for both roles, just have two Homecoming Monarchs or something.
She might prefer the more masculine term, even if female identified.
Eli the great pumpkin is the cutest!
thank you so much!
HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!! I’m a Girl Scout and I’m excited!
Girl Scouts totally love queer folk. They love us so much. I’ve worked at several different summer camps, and the gay girls always outnumber the straight girls on staff.
(there are a lot of jokes to be made about how I help the straight girls use a pocketknife and tie knots. I’m not sure if they are appropriate. Also, sneaking out of your cabin for late night camp counselor cuddling is the best).
Girl Scouts accept all girls as members and all people as adult volunteers. Boy Scouts do not.
Any adult who passes a background check can be a volunteer and a troop leader. Needless to say, some troops are better than others. I don’t think the woman who rejected her into the troop meant to do wrong; I think she was just confused. Kudos to the council for setting things straight. There are a few Girl Scout employees who really care about all of the girls.
AND I really hope this kid grows up to be a Girl Scout Camp counselor someday. Summer camp is the most gay-happy place in the world!
This is really cute!
that couple is SO cute. no, really, i can hardly process how cute they are. i think i should say cute again. CUTE.
Dude, girls could be in boyscouts? WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THAT! Bitterness! So many years of bitterness!
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Totes unrelated, but I went out as a boy scout for Halloween this year. My gay guy friends went as girl scouts.
Honestly, why can’t they both be called Homecoming Queens???
I’d like to say that I never meant to disappoint the LGBT community by representing a lesbian couple as a “female and male” thing. There was no other way to run and my friends chose me because they thought it’d be funny since I’m smaller. We are both girls which is why we are lesbians; there is no “man” in the relationship. It would deeply sadden me if I disappointed the LGBT community since that is the COMPLETE opposite of what I wanted to achieve. We both wanted to represent the LGBT community and show other teens that we can do as we wish and feel comfortable in our own skin even if we are minority.
Also, I am excited to see that Autostraddle put a little bit of us in their wonderful site. It was exciting to check the website and find us on here :)
I totally do not think anyone thought it would’ve really been up to you two when it came to the terms king and queen. I think it was more of the fact that knowing you two won they couldn’t just announce it as two homecoming queens, but like you said little steps and honestly that is so awesome you two won! Hopefully someday high schools will use universal terms for homecoming king and queen. Congrats on the win and I honestly hope this will push more schools to allow all couples no matter orientation to run:]
I’d also like to add that I am completely proud to be of the female gender. It would have been my dreeeam to be called Homecoming Queens, but one step at a time, right? Hopefully that will come soon. I hate that now people think I enjoy the more masculine term. :(