There is a concerted effort, by the usual right wing suspects, to marginalize and "defund" the Girls Scouts. Several churches have closed their doors to Girl Scout troop meetings and there is a campaign to boycott Girl Scout cookies.
A recent article in the Washington Post describes the smear campaign against the Girl Scouts. The right wing zealots claim that the Girl Scouts are
representatives of a dangerous, secular organization that aggressively promotes abortion and quietly encourages paganism, homosexuality and other alleged social ailments.
They are urging people to boycott Girls Scout cookies, pull their daughters out of Girl Scouts, and pressuring churches to stop allowing Girl Scout troops to use church space for troop meetings. The zealots have had some success: St. Timothy Roman Catholic parish in Chantilly, VA closed its doors to 12 Girl Scout troops.
the diocese didn’t deny reports that St. Timothy was unhappy with the U.S. Girl Scout organization’s membership in the international girl scouting association. The latter group, which has members in 145 countries, supports access to contraception and is also often accused of backing abortion and being affiliated with Planned Parenthood.
The American Taliban ignore the fact that
America’s Girl Scouts say explicitly, repeatedly, at the neighborhood, regional and national level, that they have no stance on birth control or abortion.
Another
issue inflaming the right wing is the tolerance shown by a Colorado troop in accepting a 7 year old transgender child into the troop. Unfortunately, even some Girls Scouts are organizing cookie boycotts over the transgender child.
I, for one, will buy more Girl Scout cookies than usual this year.