Girl Scouts cookie-seller suffers abuse for being transgender

The 9-year-old girl received waves of public support and sold thousands of boxes of cookies after sharing her story

Stormi from Southern Illinois said abuse made her 'sad' because she is a girl

A 9-year-old transgender girl has received a flood of public support and has sold thousands of boxes of Girl Scout cookies after she shared her story of suffering abuse and online trolling.

Stormi, from Herrin in Southern Illinois, was selling cookies to her neighbours with her foster mother Kim in January when one man told her: “Nobody wants to buy cookies from a boy in a dress.”

“It made me sad,” Stormi told Buzzfeed, who decided not to report her full name out of fear for her safety. “Because I’m a girl.”

Stormi decided not to give up and instead launched “Stormi’s Cookie World” online, and has since sold over 2,000 boxes as of Wednesday morning.

“At my request my family will donate boxes to local foster kids like me!” she wrote.

“Selling cookies is a lot of work. I have learned that even though people can be mean I shouldnt give up!” she added.

Stormi received a wave of support, including from a New York City-based improv group who promised to give anyone who bought Stormi’s cookies a free ticket to their show.

Thank you to everyone who came out tonight! We love Stormi!

Posted by Lauren and Caitlin present DATEprov on Friday, 29 January 2016

The Girl Scouts has allowed transgender girls to join since 2011, as reported by CNN.

“If the child is recognized by the family and school/community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, then Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a setting that is both emotionally and physically safe,” the group said on its website.

“She decided to donate boxes to something close to her heart — which is foster care,” Jay Strobel, a spokesman for Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois, told The Washington Post. “She took something that wasn’t so pleasant and she turned it into a positive experience.”

Over 40,300 people have signed an American Family Association petition against the Scouts welcoming transgender children, saying the group is allowing “boys dressed as girls” to join and that the organisation has lost its “moral compass”.

“Adults are willing to experiment on our kids - both the boys who are confused and the girls who will wonder why a boy in a dress is in the bathroom with them,” the petition wrote.