GAY PEOPLE'S Chronicle

AUGUST 28, 1998

Evenings Out

Lesbian Nuns author returns with lesbian Girl Scouts

by Ruth Baetz

Four smiling Girl Scouts look up at me from Nancy Manahan's T-shirt. One girl is Asian, two are Caucasian and one is AfricanAmerican. The caption reads "Strength in Diversity (circa 1948)."

At first the date of the photograph doesn't sink in. Then images slowly reel past my internal movie screen. Civil rights marches, voter registration, Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech-all these mileposts in the struggle for justice happened long after 1948. The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. took a stand early.

Now they face another issue of civil rights, and Nancy Manahan's new book, On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on Their Scouting Experience, offers the insights of thirty-two lesbian scouts to guide their path.

"I'm happy that the Girl Scouts' stand on sexual orientation is different than the Boy Scouts' stand," says Manahan. "The Boy Scouts openly discriminate against gay administrators, gay troop leaders, and gay youth. The Girl Scouts, on the other hand, state that they do not discriminate against lesbians, and that sexual orientation is not an issue. They require appropriate behavior from all

On My Honor:

JAHAN

adults. Sexual displays of any kind are not tolerated, nor is advocacy of any particular lifestyle.

"This was a progressive stand in 1980, one that required great courage in an organization whose funding comes from community agencies like United Way and whose meeting places are often donated by churches,” Manahan said. “Now, however, eighteen years later, I believe it is time the Girl Scouts take a leadership role in the primary civil rights issue of our time: social justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people.

"I hope this book encourages Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. to take the next steps,” Monahan continued. “For example, to add sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy, to apologize for any homophobic discrimiation in the past, and to do intensive diversity training on sexual orientation for adminors and troop leaders

Although the national organization does

not include sexual orientation in its nondiscrimination policy, 22 (of 320) Girl Scout councils do.

"I love the Girl Scouts," Manahan says frankly. "Girl Scouting empowers girls and helps them develop self-confidence, a social conscience, a volunteer commitment, and an awareness of diversity. Girls learn good communication skills, leadership skills, and democratic group process. They flourish in an all-girl environment with strong women role models who encourage them to be all they can be. In fact, an amazing 64% of women listed in Who's Who in American Women were once Girl Scouts."

Manahan stresses that it is only logical for an organization in the business of empowering girls and women to move beyond its disempowering "don't ask, don't tell" policy on sexual orientation.

This is not the first time Manahan has been on the front lines of the lesbian liberation movement. She has taught at community colleges where she has been the only out lesbian faculty. In 1985, she and Rosemary Curb co-edited Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence, which appeared on several best-seller lists and has been published in seven languages.

Being on the front lines means answering homophobic, ignorant or hostile questions.

"I dread being asked, 'If the Girl Scouts allow lesbians to be troop leaders and camp counselors, won't they recruit girls to become lesbians too?'

"I'd love to say, 'I can't believe you said that! It reveals such abysmal ignorance and unexamined stereotypes.'

"Of course I don't say that. I tell them that since between two and ten percent of the population is homosexually orientated, of the fifty million Americans who have been Girl Scouts, between one and five million have been lesbians. Girl Scouts needs to serve that population, as well as the girls who have friends, sisters, daughters, cousins, and moms who are gay.'

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On My Honor lets thirty-two former and present Girl Scouts and one former Campfire Girl tell their own stories in four sections. "Empowerment" contains inspiring stories of girls discovering nature, female strength, and lesbian role models in Girl Scouting.

"Fulfillment" showcases women who embody that empowerment in their current lives as activists, innovators, and leaders.

The third section, “Disillusionment,” documents heartbreaking instances of discrimination--both homophobic and racist.

The final section, “Integration and Acceptance," celebrates stories of Girl Scout acceptance of lesbian members and of lesbians' success in integrating their families and their work life.

I have many favorite pieces in this book: "All I Really Need to Know about Being a Lesbian I Learned at Girl Scout Camp,” makes me laugh out loud.

Manahan's "A Letter of Reconciliation I Wish Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. Would Write" gives me goosebumps when I think of the healing it offers scouts hurt by the Girl Scout organization.

*Testimony," by Kristen Renn inspires me. Turning the pain of rejection by the Girl

Above,Nancy Manahan, right, with her sister Margaret, circa 1962. Below, Nancy today.

Scouts into power, she testified before the Rhode Island state legislature, which helped that body pass a bill banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for the whole state.

And, of course, what could be more romantic than the story of two scout counselors falling in love at the Girls Scouts' Our Chalet in Switzerland, and then living happily ever after?

Throughout the book, it is clear how much lesbians have given to the Girl Scouts, and how much scouting has given them. Manahan tells a story about the Berkeley Women's Health Collective: they discovered that “amidst all the differences in age, class, ethnicity, regional background, religion, and sexual orientation of collective members, they had one thing in common: Everyone at the meeting had been a Girl Scout.”

When asked if there is anything former Girl

Scouts can do to help the organization now, Manahan says, "You can be a member; you can let the national organization and your local council know that you will support them if they take a more pro-active stance against discrimination based on sexual orientation. You can be out yourself in every way you can. Educate family, friends, co-workers, and govemment representatives. Participate in whatever GLBT political action you choose. And most importantly, let your unique light shine so that more and more people can see that it's not just Martina Navratilova who is admirable and Ellen Morgan who is loveable. All of us are admirable and loveable, including the millions of lesbians worldwide who are members of the Girl Scouts today."

Ruth Baetz, MSW, is a Seattle therapist and author of Wild Communion: Experiencing Peace in Nature.