Actually, Lots of People Will Buy Cookies From a Trans Girl Scout

Nine-year-old Stormi, a transgender Girl Scout in Herrin, Ill., had the best answer to the mean man who told her, "Nobody wants to buy cookies from a boy in a dress." With the help of her foster mom, Kim, she set up an online store and, according to BuzzFeed, she sold over 3,000 cookies.

"My troop plans to use the money to help us go on trips," says Stormi on the welcome page for her colorful online store. "I have my own plans as well. My family will donate boxes to local foster kids like me! Selling cookies is a lot of work. I have learned that even though people can be mean I shouldn't give up! Selling cookies has helped me with my math as well!"

People from as far away as Canada and Australia have placed online orders for delicious Samoas, Savannah Smiles, and other flavors from Stormi's Cookie World, as her store is called, for $4 a box plus shipping. Her store is one of the online portals for Digital Cookies run by the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois.

"It's just been amazing," Stormi's foster mother, Kim, told BuzzFeed. "I have not seen Stormi like this in a really long time. It makes me cry because this is something she'll never forget."

"Stormi is so brave and wonderful for standing up for herself and choosing to live as the person she's always been!" said Elizabeth S. Leet, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia, in one of the many letters of support that Stormi has received.

The outpouring of acceptance for Stormi has helped ameliorate her neighbor's bullying words. He lives just three blocks away. After Stormi heard his malevolent words on one of her cookie-selling rounds, she cried when she returned home.

Advocates say that the bullying of trans youth is a national epidemic that puts smart, resourceful children like Stormi at considerable risk. But, as the The Advocate shared last year in its profile of a trans teen named Gabrielle Gladu, acceptance from family, community, and peers helps mitigate the harm that trans youth routinely face.

Stormi is a member of Girl Scout Troop #8063, and by all accounts, she has been welcomed by her peers.

Her neighbor's verbal attack made Stormi sad because, "I'm a girl," she told BuzzFeed.

And indeed she is!