The Girl Scouts promise to teach children self-worth. For Stormi, a 9-year-old Girl Scout in Herrin, Ill., that lesson came about despite an unfriendly neighbor. Stormi, who is transgender, ventured out into her neighborhood to sell cookies with her foster mother, Kim. Three blocks from their home, a man answered the door and, after her pitch, told her that “nobody wants to buy cookies from a boy in a dress,” BuzzFeed reported.
Kim moved Stormi’s cookie sales to an online portal hosted by Girl Scouts of the USA. She also recounted the incident in an online forum for parents of transgender children. Within days, Stormi had sold more than 3,000 boxes of cookies, including sales to customers in Canada and Australia. She also received dozens of letters of support.
“This is something I have been trying to instill in her for years,” Kim told BuzzFeed. “How worthy she is; who she is is OK. For her to be able to read all these messages that people are sending from around the world to support her, the love is just overwhelming.”
Transgender issues are not new to the Girl Scouts. In 2012, the inclusion of a 7-year-old transgender girl into a Denver, Colo., troop sparked a national call to boycott Girl Scout cookies. Last summer, a troop in Western Washington returned a $100,000 donation because of a stipulation that it could “not be used to support transgender girls.” The troop set up an Indiegogo account instead – which GSUSA promoted nationally with the hashtag #forEVERYgirl – and raised over $338,000.