American Heritage Girls. (Letters to the Editor).

I noted with interest the picture of the Girl Scouts selling cookies at a Gay Pride Parade ("Mainstreaming Homosexuality" by Isabel Lyman, June 16th issue of TNA). When I became a Girl Scout leader seven years ago, I knew something was wrong when they told me in leader training that if the issue came up, I could not tell the girls whether it was right or wrong to have premarital sex. "Oh, we can't impose our values on the girls," they said.

After four years, it was my girls who were complaining that the Girl Scouts wouldn't let them do many activities that the Boy Scouts were allowed to do, and I started looking around for alternatives for them. The following year we switched to Camp Fire Boys and Girls with an all-girl troop. I had grown up in California as a Camp Fire Girl in the '60s and I thought I could make it work. However, the year after we joined, they changed their name to Camp Fire USA and also changed their policies. The Camp Fire USA website states: "We are inclusive, open to every person in the communities we serve, welcoming children, youth and adults regardless of race, religion, socioeconomic status, disability, sexual orientation or other aspect of diversity."

I believe in being kind to my neighbors, but not all neighbors are suitable leaders for my girls and I could no longer feel comfortable about associating with Camp Fire. It was then that my husband brought home an article he found on the Internet about a new scouting organization for girls called American Heritage Girls. Started in 1995 by some Girl Scout leaders in Ohio who were disturbed by the direction Girl Scouts was taking, they took it upon themselves to start their own values-based scouting organization for girls. They began with 100 girls and in seven years grew to 1,200 girls. Last year they took the program national and started chartering troops all over the country, ours being one of them. American Heritage Girls emphasizes patriotism, service to the community, and belief in God. They also do the usual scouting things such as camping and earning badges. It's about time something as good as Boy Scouts has come along for the girls. I hope that perhaps TNA can even do an article on them.

CHARLOTTE M. MEYER

Maquoketa, Iowa

American Heritage Girls was a subject of the "Making a Difference" column in our November 19, 2001 issue. -- Ed.