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Feud deepens between RP Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts


fgoodwin

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fgoodwin writes:

BSA has been publicly criticized for its position of not admitting younger girls -- but those same critics don't say anything about GSUSA's opposition to BSA admitting younger girls.

 

I just wonder why GSUSA is let off the hook by those who complain about BSA?

 

I think some actual examples would help.

 

Plus, there's the obvious difference that the BSA can change the BSA's policies, while the GSUSA can't change the BSA's policies.

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"You see, girls are a 'protected class'. Boys aren't."

 

Well, no. Under the law, "sex" is a protected class, and you are a member of a protected class by virtue of your sex, whether you are male or female. One reason that it may seem that females are more "protected" is that there were so many more situations in which they were excluded before the laws changed.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

There is a need for separate Boy and Girl Scouts at all ages. (As a high schooler, boys around scout meetings would have been a total nightmare.) However, at the older ages when some girls would like to be just as outdoorsy as boys, there needs to be a program, which Venturing can fill admirably. It's a shame that GSUSA and BSA can't jointly sponsor Venture crews, but then the institutional characters of the two groups at the national level are further apart than just Venus and Mars.

 

By the way, when I came home from camping trips in cadette/senior scouts, I was filthy, sticky and tired, unless we'd been to the beach. Then I was sticky, sandy, and slightly red.

 

And come on, what's wrong with a turn through the spa after a weekend of rock climbing or rafting? It's okay to be beautiful on Monday.

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As I understand it, West opposed the Girls Scouts from the start. He threatened to sue over their use of Scout, as he had sued the American Boy Scouts. He wrote to B-P about it. He only desisted when Lou Henry Hoover, who had become the president of the Girl Scouts of America in 1922, then became the First Lady in 1929 (and yes, it was GSA until 1947).

 

West had earlier worked with Luther Gulick when the Camp Fire Girls were established and always considered them to be the sister program of the BSA.

 

Ed

 

Reference:

Rowan, Edward L (2005). To Do My Best: James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America. Las Vegas International Scouting Museum. ISBN 0-9746479-1-8.

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