He'd been a part of the club for more than a month.
The family of an 8-year-old boy said he was kicked out of the local Cub Scouts in Secaucus, New Jersey, because he is transgender.
Joe Maldonado, who was born Jody, and has identified as male for more than a year said that being ousted from the group has left him sad.
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“They kicked me out because I am a girl — born a girl,” Joe told CBS New York.
Joe’s mom, Kristie Maldonado, said she made it clear to the club when she signed her son up that he was transgender, but after only a month she claimed she got a call from the Boy Scouts, saying he could no longer be part of the organization.
“I felt angry,” Kristie said. “He was having a good time.”
Kristie said the third-grader is accepted as a boy at school and that it was complaints from parents — not Joe’s fellow Scouts — that led to his removal.
Although the Boy Scouts of America has a policy against banning gay scouts from clubs, the organization says nothing about transgender scouts.
Spokeswoman Effie Delimarkos said in a statement that the organization considers transgender children a separate issue.
“No youth may be removed from any of our programs on the basis of his or her sexual orientation,” she said, but added: “Gender identity isn’t related to sexual orientation.”
The organization reportedly did not address Joe’s specific situation.
The national Girl Scouts organization, which is not affiliated with the Boy Scouts, has accepted transgender members for years.
Watch: Transgender Sisters Share Their Story of Coming Out Together
