@NBCLatino Goes Social: Congrats to @RealAdrianC and the Entire NBC Latino Group « Franky Benítez.

We get very excited when our dear friends have great news to share and in the case of Adrian Carrasquillo (@RealAdrianC on Twitter), today marks a time to celebrate a very cool accomplishment for him and @NBCLatino. They are going social, and we wish them all the best! We asked Adrian to share his thoughts about the essence of NBC Latino. Here they are:

“I’m happy to announce that we’ve launched the NBC Latino social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. Social is one of the pillars of our vision. We come nowhere near our mission unless we have the pulse of our community. But we wanted to do it right. Now that we’ve worked to hone our editorial voice we feel we are ready to launch social.

We want to appeal to Hispanics who feel that there has been something missing from Latino news. Our hope is that by immersing ourselves in the community and elevating what we all see as the Latino news conversation, we will better reflect the nuance, richness and depth of the U.S. Latino experience.

I subscribe to the theory that the most precious resource on the Internet is the time and attention of readers. You can’t survive in 2012 by expecting people to type in the URL to your website. Since 25 percent of all online trips in the U.S. end up on Facebook and Twitter and have become the online town square, I want us to tap into the vast Hispanic online community and present content that is fun, fresh, inspired and smart on the platforms where they already are.

I’ve come to know, respect and admire a lot of people in the Latino space in the last year and a half — from influencers and bloggers to amazing people furthering Hispanic initiatives through the social community. We want to continue to tell important stories and I want everyone who comes across our content to feel ownership of it. We want to represent them and we want them to keep us honest.

So I invite anyone to email me at adrian.carrasquillo@nbcuni.com or tweet to me @RealAdrianC if they have any questions, comments or concerns. Thanks to everyone who is joining us on this journey. I can speak for everyone at NBC Latino when I say that we’re honored to be in the position to make it with you.”

In October of last year, the Huffington Post introduced us to a courageous young transgendered girl who wanted to join the Girl Scouts of Colorado but was first refused admission because she had “boy parts.” In December, the Girl Scouts of Colorado admitted that they had made a mistake and the person who refused her admission was not aware of their policy. Since then, the Girl Scouts of Colorado released a statement through the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), noting, “Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members,” the Girls Scouts said in a statement. “If a child identifies as a girl and the child’s family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.”

Now, a young girl by the name of Taylor from Ventura, California is attempting to create a national boycott of Girl Scout cookies because of the Colorado’s organization’s decision to admit the transgendered 7 year old.

The girl, appears in a YouTube video in which she claims her organization is using proceeds from sales of the popular cookies to “[promote] the desires of a small handful of people.” I am not going to post the video on this site because I don’t want to bring more attention to her video.

In her video, Taylor states: “Right now, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A…is not being honest with us girls, its troops, its leaders, its parents or the American public,” Taylor, appears to have been a girl scout for eight years. “Girl Scouts describes itself as an all-girl experience. With that label, families trust that the girls will be in an environment that is not only nurturing and sensitive to girls’ needs, but also safe for girls.”

She continues to say, “I am asking you to take action with me and boycott Girl Scout Cookies.” The video ends with a tagline for the Honest Girl Scouts site, which describes itself as a group “concerned with the alarming choices GSUSA has been making,” and “advocating for a change back to simply building girls of good character.”

Here is where you can help. Initially, the transgendered child was going to sell cookies for the Colorado chapter, but a statement from Girl Scouts of Colorado has said that the child is no longer interested in being a Girl Scout, and that we cannot buy directly because she was no longer an active member.  However, the Girl Scouts have reinforced their inclusivity statement and we can do the following to support them:

• Donate directly and let them know it is in support of their inclusivity (and according to GSUSA, you can even ear mark it for LGBTQ initiatives within the Girl Scouts)
• Download the cookie app and find your local scouts to get cookies! (Yes there’s an app for that!)
• Buy cookies from your local scouts and eat them!
• Buy cookies from your local scouts and donate them to organizations that support LGBTQ youth (and/or adults), so that way the Girl Scouts get money and credit, and local organizations get the benefit of the cookies!
• If you can’t afford to buy them you can always write them a letter or email them and thank them for their support of transgendered children!
• Thank them for their inclusivity on Facebook and Twitter.

Original story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/bobby-montoya-girl-scouts_n_1033308.html
Troops disbanding: http://gothamist.com/2011/12/22/christian_girl_scout_troops_horrifi.php

She sits behind a desk and waits for questions to be asked.  She is the real person behind “In Case You Are Curious,”  a text-chat program run by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Continue Reading