In Washington, a troop of girl scouts have been inundated with donations after returning an $100,000 donation from an individual who refused to support transgender girls. The gift was returned by the local council after the donor made the following request:
“Please guarantee that our gift will not be used to support transgender girls. If you can’t, please return the money.”
The troop of girls had been thrilled with the donation last month as it meant almost a third of the council’s annual operating costs could be covered and that the money could be used to help girls attend summer camps and other troop events should their families not be able to afford to pay for them.
Council CEO Megan Ferland said of the decision to return the money:
“Girl Scouts is for every girl…and every girl should have the opportunity to be a Girl Scout if she wants to.”
Following the return of the money, the girls and the council took to crowd-funding site Indiegogo to help raise funds. Despite believing their $100,000 goal was “ambitious”, in two days more than double their target amount has been donated with a further 28 days of fundraising on the site still to go.
The story of the fundraising efforts and the return of the donation has since been covered by several news sites across the country and social media has also offered its support via the hashtag #ForEveryGirl.
Congressman for CA17-Silicon Valley Rep. Mike Honda also tweeted his support saying today (July 1st):
“Proud @girlscouts returned the $100k. We must stand up for all girls & against hate. #ForEveryGirl #TransIsBeautiful.”
Last month, the organisation was targeted by the anti-LGBT American Family Association, but that hasn’t deterred them from standing up for trans-rights. Instead, as the fundraising continues, public relations director Stefanie Ellis said:
“We are overcome with gratitude for the outpouring of support for all our girls.”
Such a positive outcome and hopefully, a lesson to that original trans-phobic donor.
What do you think about the news?
