In 6th grade, my son wanted to join the Boy Scouts. I did not want him to join because I had gotten a bad feeling about it. Call it mother’s intuition. But my son begged. My gut warned me against it but my husband and son wanted it badly, so I gave in. In Boy Scouts the troop is run by the older boys and my son stepped up like I never had seen before. I was relieved and thought my instincts were wrong.

He loved all the hiking and backpacking. He made friends. In high school he became friends with another scout from a different school. Together they decided they were both “trans”. My son declared his new girl name and pronouns to his troop. I wrote to the troop leader to express my concerns, and also to point out that, because there were many autistic boys in the troop, I did not want my son celebrated, and have him potentially influence other vulnerable boys.

The troop leader sent my letter to the pastor of the church where the meetings were held, a gay man who had known my son for years. To my shock, he said we need to support our trans child. My son quit the troop soon after this because he did not like what scouts represented. The church that hosts the Boy Scout troop now flies the progressive pride flag, and sports a large banner reading “Trans rights are human rights”.

This troop played Magic: the gathering cards on all the backpacking trips. I’ve since learned this is another trans gateway drug similar to anime.