This is a NH Family Watch ARCHIVE ARTICLE
By RAY WHITE
POSTED: JUNE, 1996 -- On May 17, Girl Scout assistant troop leader
Georg-Anne Duval was terminated by New Hampshire's Swiftwater Girl Scout Council
for speaking out about the liberal feminist agenda apparently being promoted
throughout much of the Girl Scout organization, locally and nationally.
This development was the culmination of a long-standing battle between the
organization and a couple of out-spoken leaders regarding the Girl Scout's
promotion of sex education, abortion, and the gay agenda under the euphemism of
"diversity and tolerance".
Mrs. Duval's problems began when she became aware of what she considers a
liberal social agenda burgeoning in recent years within the Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA)
movement. She had begun to chronicle this trend in letters to fellow church
leaders and was about to give a public presentation on this subject when she was
abruptly terminated this spring.
In her outline, Mrs. Duval points out how Girl Scouts USA, which at one time was
an organization promoting traditional, mainstream values in young girls, had
been co-opted by many special interest groups (including Planned Parenthood)
into promoting and advancing many aspects of radical liberal feminism.
According to Duval, this direction began in 1974 when the Girl Scouts USA
introduced a "to be a woman" badge. This action prompted the Archdiocese of
Philadelphia to pull its sponsorship of 334 troops in it's area, and the program
was subsequently dropped.
Next, in 1977, radical feminist author Betty Freidan, who was on the Girl Scout
USA Board of Directors, stood in full support of the equal rights amendment and
apparently used her GSUSA platform as one of her pulpits to do so.
Duval further chronicled how in 1989, a program titled "Decisions for Your
Life-Preventing Teenage Pregnancy" contained the following language: "be it
resolved, with the help of community resource consultants, sex education will be
a program component of Girl Scouts".
Duval explained that these "community resource consultants" ended up being
Planned Parenthood representatives in some areas (including Manchester by the
Swift Water Girl Scout Council).
Duval then charges that in 1993, the sex education program was further refined
"according to community norms" (GSUSA - What We Stand For, page 22). In
addition, the use of the word "God" in the Girl Scout USA pledge became optional
in the interest of "flexibility of wording".
Duval states the current trend in Girl Scout USA philosophy is heavily bent
toward atheism, lesbianism, abortion, and birth control. She points out that
GSUSA will no longer take a position against lesbianism, despite the fact that
its female leaders are working with young girls (as young as age 5 in some
cases), and in fact have issued statements such as "...we also wish to be
proactive in a growing climate of prejudice and intolerance of diversity...",
language which was presented in the last leader training session that Duval
attended on April 1.
Duval feels many of the topics being discussed in the Girl Scout USA manuals are
not age appropriate. For instance, she says in a junior girls manual (ages 8-11)
there is a section on "relating to boys".
In it, material appears such as: "...Ten year old Sonia giggled. She told her
best friend Sarah about how she walked from the top of the stairs as her older
sister and boyfriend kissed on Saturday night. You know, those long
with-no-time-out-for-breathing kisses...".
Despite assurances from the leadership that Girl Scout USA is not promoting
abortion, Duval contends that when she made known her pro-life viewpoint, she
was told that these were her personally held "religious" beliefs, and as such
they were not to be shared with anyone else.
Duval also points out that in the Senior Girl Scout Handbook, which is for high
school level girls (ages 14-17), such topics as resolving the conflict of ending
a pregnancy are discussed. Also, the conflict of supporting a decision to pull a
life support system from a dying relative is also discussed, reflecting the
current anti-life, pro-death, values clarification sentiment found in radical,
activist feminist circles.
Duval suggests thousands of unsuspecting churches across the country are
sponsoring Girl Scout USA programs. She believes most would be shocked and
offended to find that such viewpoints - which are so contrary to many of their
religious beliefs - are being taught and promoted under their auspices.
As for her termination from New Hampshire's Swiftwater Girl Scout Council, it
appears Duval's decision to speak out publicly on these matters at a N.H.
Christian Coalition chapter meeting was what brought it on.
This meeting was held on May 20. On May 15, Duval received a letter from a
lawyer representing the Swiftwater Girl Scout Council.
In a strongly worded (meant to intimidate?) letter, the attorney told Duval that
she was not to speak on behalf of Swiftwater Girl Scout Council or Girl Scouts
USA on her "...unauthorized interpretations..." of these GSUSA policies. He also
told her that in his opinion she was in breach of her leader appointment
agreement (an agreement that leaders must sign with the GSUSA). He also accused
her of having "...recklessly mischaracterized policies and goals of the Girls
Scouts...".
On the same day that this letter was mailed to Duval, the Swiftwater Girl Scout
Council circulated a letter to all Manchester Girl Scout leaders warning them
that "some Manchester Girl Scout Leaders, parents, and church leaders have
recently received letters attacking Girl Scouting, specifically suitability for
membership in regard to acceptance of God and our appointment procedures for
volunteers".
They then go on to explain their position on these issues and include the fact
that they do not discriminate on the basis of "...sexual orientation in
recruiting girls and selecting adult volunteers...". (their words).
On May 17, Duval received a letter from Swiftwater Girl Scout Council
terminating her as a Girl Scout Assistant Troop Leader, effective on that date.
It is obvious from the Girl Scout USA materials that we reviewed that the
militant feminist stamp is all over it.
Some of the "Famous former Girl Scouts" cited in their manual reads like a Whose
Who of militant feminism, including ultra-liberal U.S. Senators Carol Moseley
Braun and Barbara Mikulski, radical feminists Gloria Steinem, and the one and
only Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Many conservative groups come under attack by liberals for their "hidden
agendas" and "intolerance", but the heavy-handed censorship practiced by the
national and New Hampshire Girl Scout organizations against a person for merely
voicing concerns about them is astonishing, particularly when all Duval had done
was quote and distribute their own material (which includes an encouragement to
Leaders to "widely distribute" it.)
What are the Girls Scouts trying to hide? They claim a goal of asking people to
"...Join with us as we change the world one girl at a time...", but one must
apparently not dare to ask "change it into what?"
Think about that the next time you consider buying some of their cookies.
Girl
Scouts, Planned Parenthood link probed
--Posted on
WorldNetDaily.Com -- March 12, 2004
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