Alexandra Bougher was removed from her position for refusal to adhere to the LGBTQ Pride agenda, reports The Daily Signal. She had been a troop leader for seven years and for more than 30 girls, guiding them rock climbing, camping, fishing and other activities.
Not only was Bougher removed from leadership, she and her daughter were expelled from the Scouts altogether, getting the message in a phone call.
The reason for her removal was because of a social media post that violated the organization’s code of conduct.
Bougher, who is chair of the Bergen County, New Jersey chapter of Moms for Liberty, spoke with Casey Harper on Washington Watch to explain what happened.
She assumes that one of two posts could be responsible for her termination, but Girl Scouts neglected to tell her which one.
One post was regarding a First Congregational United Church of Christ in Park Ridge that hosted events and meetings for girl scout troops. However, they had a Pride flag on display.
“We had asked them to please remove the flags, that these things were inappropriate, and it was too important for them to keep all of that than to make our girls feel safe,” says Bougher.
She also said that the church had a 13-year-old boy who identified as a girl be a host to the children, talking about “how you feel as a young person and your gender.”
The other post was in response to a post from Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey in June in celebration of Pride Month. The Scouts’ post talked about how a child can “unlock your special LGBTQ+ multicultural community celebration patch.”
Bougher says that this was for all Park Ridge troops, involving different classes and badges. She received calls from concerned parents, one of whom pulled her daughter out of the organization.
“I shared the post, and I said just to be clear, my troop will not be doing this at all. We will have nothing to do with this. It is not our place to talk about anything sexual with children at all whatsoever,” Bougher states.
Mom’s for Liberty posted on Facebook about the Boughers’ situation, showing the different social media posts and pictures involved with the events.
Bougher said that, for every 50 people who are angry that they won’t “sexualize and groom children,” there are thousands of supports messages wanting to help and do the right thing.
“Right now, everyone's just trying to figure out what we can do next. Let’s start our own group, and let's keep the girls safe and help them become strong young ladies, without these outside influences that they (Girl Scouts), obviously, are showing means so much more to them than the safety of our girls,” Bougher says.
Time to move on
Bougher believes that parents should pull their kids out of Girl Scouts and that the organization should get back to the principles it was founded on.
It is important to note that until that happens, parents have choices.
Patti Garibay, executive director emeritus of American Heritage Girls, also spoke on Washington Watch regarding how the Girl Scouts could fall so far. Garibay started out as a Girl Scouts leader for nine years, during the 1990s.
She said it began to change in 1993 when the Girl Scout Promise no longer included God. The oath now includes an asterisk beside it so a member can substitute their own spiritual beliefs.
“When we kick God out of a character development program, what will the moral foundation be? It will be whatever the culture is saying. So that's what we're seeing today. This has been going on for a long time,” says Garibay.
Two years after the oath change, Garibay founded American Heritage Girls as an alternative to the Girl Scouts, and it is now celebrating 30 years. She describes it as Girl Scouts that honors God without the woke DEI agenda.
“I can't even create a large enough label of warning to parents about the Girl Scouts. I cannot yell it from the rooftops loud enough. It is a dangerous place, particularly if you are someone who wants to raise up their child in the way they should go with a biblical worldview,” Garibay warns.
She stresses that the organization not only wants their members to respect LGBTQ but also to become an ally.
Critics of the Girls Scouts found that, regionally, some of the training material put an asterisk beside the word ‘girl.’ No longer can they say ‘hey, girls’ when addressing the room, prompting the question, “How can you lead the Girl Scouts, if you don’t know what a girl is?”
“Well, it's just as confusing as any pronoun for the wrong sex person. It's very difficult to maneuver, and I don't know how any parent who has discernment around this can even be part of the Girl Scouts.”
Other choices available
She says this is not your mother’s Girl Scouts, and it’s time for parents to look into alternatives. She says American Heritage Girls is just that.
“We offer all the high adventure and the exciting activities, plus leadership, plus service to others, all within a biblical world lens,” states Garibay.
She also mentions that they are charted with churches but emphasizes that this is not Sunday school.
“This is experiential learning where belonging is part of it and making friends, but growing up side-by-side, raising each other's arms in this difficult culture – to raise up the way we should go and to raise up our girls in the way they should go,” Garibay concludes.
