On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on Their Scouting Experience

by Nancy Manahan

Book Overview

Nancy Manahan shattered centuries of taboo when she and Rosemary Curb published the critically acclaimed Lesbian Nuns: Breaking Silence. Now, Manahan is back looking at another taboo subject -- the presence of lesbians in the Girl Scouts.For years, the Girl Scouts, the largest voluntary organization of girls and women in the world, has sent a clear message to the lesbians in its ranks -- stay hidden. Although some lesbian girls and women have felt at home in the world of Girl Scouting, others have endured discrimination and hypocrisy. In spite of the fact that its mission is the empowerment of girls, the organization has devalued and disempowered many of its adult volunteers and professional staff, as well as its young members, because it subscribes to the larger society's entrenched fear of homosexuality.That gap between the Girl Scouts' professed values and actual practice can be painfully wide. Despite a policy of nondiscrimination, the organization that has launched so many young women into productive lives as activists, innovators and leaders practices de facto don't ask, don't tell, similar to the present policy of the United States military -- a practice that ignores scouting's own core values and beliefs.On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on Their Scouting Experience is the first book to explore the contributions lesbians have made to Girl Scouting, the impact scouting has had on lesbians, and some of the problems undermining this relationship.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1886231028
• ISBN13: 9781886231023
• Release Date: January 1802
• Publisher: Madwoman Press
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Entertaining Reassurance

This is a wonderful book of personal stories and entertaining anecdotal pieces such as 'All I really need to know about being a Lesbian I learned at girl scout camp.' From a personal perspective this book was a gentle re-assurance that I and my circle of lesbian girl scout friends are not alone. This book underlines a belief that I have always had, that the lesbian connection is a spiritual one foremost and a sexual one as a result. There is such a warmth,bonding, and level of oneness that you can feel with a woman, that for me has never been possible with a man, despite my own 11 year marriage. I discovered this "lesbian connection" while being a counselor at a girl scout camp and fell in love with another wife/mother much like myself. Our love bloomed quite naturally and a year later we were both divorced and living a completeness we never knew existed. It was then that it was revealed to us that there were several others like us - in our own council. They sensed what was happening with us, stood back and let the journey take it's course. This book is a gentle and sincere voice that needs to be heard all across America in GS Councils everwhere.