Judge tosses Girl Scouts' recruitment suit vs. Boy Scouts

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected Girl Scouts’ claims that the Boy Scouts created marketplace confusion and damaged their recruitment efforts by using words like “scouts” and “scouting” in recruitment drives.

Manhattan Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ruled that the Boy Scouts of America can describe their activities as “scouting” without referring to gender and that the matter does not need to be put to a jury.

Hellerstein said his written decision caps a “serious, contentious and expensive” litigation and necessitates dismissal of the lawsuit brought by the Girls Scouts of the United States of America.

The lawsuit was filed in late 2018, a year after the Boy Scouts announced that boy scouting and cub scouting would be open to girls, leading the organizations to compete for members after social trends and a rise in sports league participation drove down membership for decades. The pattern worsened when the pandemic hit.

-snip-

By LARRY NEUMEISTER
today


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/boy-scouts-of-america-new-york-united-states-manhattan-lifestyle-d97b9453aaf6c8b6385e45d81b954f24

[LiberatedUSA]

1. The whole thing was confusing.

A collective of minds forgot that the Girl Scouts exists and demanded girls be allowed in the Boy Scouts.

[lastlib]

2. Tbe Scouts BSA (fka "Boy Scouts") offers opportunities that the GSA cannot match.

foremost among them is the Eagle Scout badge. Also high-adventure programs that have no comparison anywhere (who has a 214-square-mile ranch in the Rocky Mountains that they would turn over to the GSA?)

The BSA has been one of the few Scouting programs in the world that are NOT co-educational (most that aren't are Muslim countries, and who wanted to be compared to them?) The main barrier to it here has been the Mormon Church, and now that they are out of the picture, it was high time we "got with the program," and let the ladies in.

[LiberatedUSA]

6. Yes, I am aware...

…nothing is allowed to be itself anymore.

[Polybius]

7. Bill was flawless in that segment

He certainly has his moments.

[Historic NY]

3. What you want and then what happens are two different things.

I don't think my aunt, a teacher, and girl scout leader for decades, as well as both cub scout and webelos would be happy. She was most happy at the girl scout camps. Perhaps merging activities. But they are two separate organizations in form and function. Can the Boy Scouts sell Boy Scout cookies?

[jmowreader]

8. Well...they could

One of the smartest things the Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls did was to establish a national fundraiser…the cookies and mints.

This had a significant drawback, though.

If I asked you or anyone here to name one good thing about the Girl Scouts, you’d say it was cookies. About the Camp Fire Girls, you’d say mints. But about the Boy Scouts, you’d say the Eagle Scout badge or, if you know about the Scouts, maybe Philmont Scout Ranch. I mean, seriously: besides selling cookies can you name anything about GSA if you weren’t a Girl Scout or have a daughter in the organization? Everyone knows the Boy Scouts go camping.

By selling cookies the GSA has a successful nationally known fundraising operation…by not doing it the Boy Scouts puts its focus on what Boy Scouts actually do.

[AllTooEasy]

5. Research what happened to the Negro Baseball league when MLB allowed Black players

In addition, research what happened to HBCU football programs after "White" colleges integrated.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very much pro-integration. I'm just noting unintended consequences resulting from progress. New and improved technologies often have the same effect on entire, established industries.

[BrightKnight]

4. I have a "Boy Scouts on the Trail" book from 1912.

It uses the words “scouts” and “scouting.”

“Scout Master” is used but “Boy Scout Master” is not.


Explorer Scout is an older Scout and the have been coed for a long time.

There are Sea Scouts and Cub Scouts.

They are all “Scouts” and it is all “Scouting.”

Girl Scouts is a totally different organization.

[jmowreader]

9. There's also the new STEM Scouts

They also have something called Venturing, which is free form…you can build a Venturing Crew around just about anything you like.