By Alex Bregman

Sydney Ireland, 15, has wanted to be a Boy Scout since about the age of 4. However, she can’t officially join the Boy Scouts of America because she’s a girl. She’s now petitioning the organization to change its male-only charter. Her Change.org petition has received nearly 5,000 supporters. Ireland and her father, Gary, spoke to Yahoo Finance Anchor Alexis Christoforous about her petition and her hopes of becoming a Boy Scout.

Why does she want to be a Boy Scout when she could be a Girl Scout instead? Sydney told Christoforous: “Since I was about 4, my brother was a Boy Scout, and I’ve always wanted to be part of the program. I was part of the Cub Scouts, and then up until I was about 11, I wasn’t allowed to join the Boy Scouts, and that was really upsetting because I love to camp, I love to go ice climbing and also at the end of the Boy Scouts, there’s a really important award called the Eagle Scout. It’s recognized all over the country and internationally and it gives you opportunities that aren’t available without it, such as college acceptances and job opportunities that wouldn’t be available without it.”

Sydney’s father said that he was “really proud of her and wanted to support in any way” when she decided she wanted to be a Boy Scout.

Sydney is not the first girl to challenge the Boy Scouts’ policy. Girls have tried to join going all the way back to the 1970s, and last year five girls in California tried to be recognized by the Scouts. Gary thinks Sydney’s case is different: “She’s gone outside the U.S. to try to join a co-ed troop and has been successful. Troop 80 out of London, Ontario, has been very welcoming towards her and towards all of our family in her efforts to join the Scouts, and if you look on Change.org and you look at all the comments, so many of them are from Eagle Scouts and scout leaders, and they’re all welcoming of her efforts.”

In a statement to Yahoo News, the Boy Scouts of America wrote:

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“We understand that the values and the lessons of Scouting are attractive to the entire family. However, the Boy Scouts of America was chartered by Congress in 1916 to serve boys and young men across the nation through the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts programs, which are year-round programs for boys in the first grade through age 18. We have since developed alternative programs that are co-ed, such as Venturing, but to change the Cub or Boy Scouting programs would go outside the bounds of our charter.”

Sydney told Christoforous, however: “Venturing starts at age 14, and it doesn’t allow you to earn the Eagle rank, which is … recognized internationally. And so it just puts boys and girls at an unequal playing field that they cannot earn the Eagle rank, and boys can.”

Gary also argued that given the advances the Boy Scouts have made on LGBT issues — such as allowing openly gay Scouts — they should also change their charter to include girls. He said, “If the Boy Scouts want to change their charter, they can just change their charter and allow in girls the same way they forbid the LGBT community to be fully included, uh, and they’ve changed that and they’re evolving, so we’re just looking for them to do what is done almost universally throughout the world and allow girls to fully participate in the Scouts.”

When pressed on how letting girls into the Scouts is related to letting openly gay men into the Scouts, Gary said, “Organizations throughout history have opened up to women. The Boy Scouts didn’t used to allow women to be leaders, adult leaders, and now they allow that, to their benefit. And the program is only going to benefit when it has more diversity. They’re always looking to increase membership, and this is, you know, they’re excluding half the population. Allow girls in, your membership’s going to go up, no doubt. Just as it has in other countries. All other countries allow in girls.”

Sydney is yet to receive an official response from the Scouts to her petition but hopes a resolution introduced at the National Organization for Women’s 50th anniversary this week supporting her efforts will change that. Her father concluded: “It’s a historic time. It’s the 50th anniversary, Hillary Clinton is the nominee for president, and what better time to have girls in scouting. And the resolution basically says that the mission of the Scouts is to serve all children, and all we’re asking is that they serve all children, including girls. Just as they have now let in boys that may be gay and gay adults … we want them to allow girls to fully participate in the program, including earning the Eagle rank.”

The resolution before NOW passed unanimously on Friday.