DENVER — Bobby Montoya, a 7-year-old boy from Denver, Colo., who identifies as a girl, may be allowed to join the Girl Scouts after initially being told no by a local troop leader.
“Bobby identifies as a girl, and he’s a boy,” his mother, Felisha Archuleta, told KUSA-TV.
Archuleta still refers to Bobby as “he,” but said Bobby dresses and behaves like a girl.
Get the Daily Brief
The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you:
“He’s been doing this since he was about 2 years old. He’s loved girl stuff, so we just let him dress how he wants, as long as he’s happy,” she said.
Archuleta said she went to sign Bobby up for Girl Scouts because his older sister had joined, and Bobby really wanted to join as well.
But Archuleta said a troop leader told her Bobby couldn’t join.
“I said, ‘Well, what’s the big deal?’ She said ‘It doesn’t matter how he looks, he has boy parts, he can’t be in Girl Scouts. Girl Scouts don’t allow that [and] I don’t want to be in trouble by parents or my supervisor,'” Archuleta told 9NEWS.
“It was like somebody told me I can’t like girl stuff, and I have to change my name to something else,” Bobby said.
But now, in a statement released to KUSA-TV, the Girl Scouts of Colorado said the troop leader’s decision is not in alignment with the organization’s policies:
“Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout. Our requests for support of transgender kids have grown, and Girl Scouts of Colorado is working to best support these children, their families and the volunteers who serve them.”
The Girls Scouts said the troop leader was not “aware of our approach” and that the organization would immediately begin working with Bobby and his family to “get the child involved and supported in Girl Scouts.”
KUSA-TV reporter Anastasiya Bolton told LGBTQ Nation that Bobby had also “been bullied” at school, and that Bobby himself “used that word” to describe other incidents while attending school.
A video report and discussion from KUSA-TV is here.
