Indiana lawmaker Bob Morris mocked by his own party over Girl Scout stance

In yet another dubious condemnation, Republican representative Bob Morris declared the Girl Scouts of America a corrupting organization that encourages abortion and homosexuality – via its apparently non-existent partnership with Planned Parenthood.

The uproar began when Rep. Morris refused to sign a resolution honoring the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts. He submitted a letter in which he explained that after some “research” on the Internet, he “discovered” that the Girl Scouts is “quickly becoming a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood.”

We are putting the “research” and “discovery” in quotation marks here as a way to bring attention to the fact that a scan of mass opinions available on the Internet does not constitute an act of critical thinking. Let’s face it: the Internet also “says” the earth is flat. Go ahead. Search “the flat earth society.”

At any rate, Rep. Morris’s Internet forays convinced him that the Girl Scouts promotes homosexual lifestyles, and that it has been “subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of traditional American family values.”

To underscore the ignorance from which these sentiments flow, Rep. Morris also noted that First Lady Michelle Obama is the Girl Scouts’ honorary president, and that this fact “should give each of us reason to pause before our individual and collective endorsement of the organization” – unaware, it appears, that since 1917, every First Lady has served as the honorary leader of Girl Scouts including Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Laura Bush.

Even Rep. Morris’s fellow Republican, House Speaker Brian Bosma could not help mocking Morris’s stance by passing out Thin Mints to the other members. “I purchased 278 cases of Girl Scout cookies in the last four hours,” he said cheerfully.

Nevertheless, we should not be so quick to dismiss Rep. Morris’s statements as isolated crazy talk. Morris continues to stand firm behind his words despite the uproar and mockery. “My family and I took a view and we’re sticking by it,” Morris told the Associated Press. “My girls are no longer Girl Scouts. They’re now going to join American Heritage Girls.”

Morris is taking his evangelical Christian mission to “take back America” seriously. That includes making the minority view vocal, and its consequent fallout a necessary cross to bear. That minority view includes the belief that most secular organizations promote “liberal,” secular policies regarding sexual orientation, gender identity, and the availability of contraception to minors. The fact that Planned Parenthood and the Girl Scouts have absolutely no formal or informal partnership is irrelevant to someone like Rep. Morris. To him and his conservative colleagues, they are of the same ilk. They might as well collaborate.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana’s CEO Betty Cockrum summed it up well in her statement to the press: “On the national level, inflammatory and generally inaccurate claims about a partnership between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood have been promoted primarily by anti-choice lawmakers seeking to place pressure on organizations to disassociate or distance themselves from Planned Parenthood. As part of their campaign against the Girl Scouts, these groups are also attacking the Girl Scouts’ policies on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

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