Scholastic recently released its 2024 “Read with Pride” campaign, telling educators they “absolutely know queer children.”
The initiative is a means of pushing LGBT content on children.
“As a teacher, librarian, educator, or caregiver, how you interact with all children and teens around queerness matters,” the guide says. “What literature you provide them with, and how you talk about both literature and identity, can have an immense, life-changing impact on the young people in your life. Everyone benefits from books with authentic representation of queer identities, whether that representation is a window, mirror, or sliding glass door.”
Encouraging children to read LGBT books is introducing them to an “expanded way of thinking and being that validates all children and all people,” the guide explains.
Several of the LGBT books for “early readers,” ages 0-8, include My Moms Love Me, Llama Glamarama, and You Are Loved: A Book About Families.
Dozens of LGBT books for those aged 12 and older are also recommended by Scholastic.
The guide also includes resources for supporting LGBT books and adolescents.
It lists national organizations supporting LGBT youth, such as GLAAD, Lambda Legal, and the Trevor Project, as well as book resources such as Lambda Literary Awards, Children’s Book Council, and LGBTQ Reads.
As Scholastic aims to support LGBT content, American Faith reported that a Catholic organization has launched an effort to remove such sexual content from children’s library shelves.
Catholic nonprofit CatholicVote has equipped parents with a toolkit that explains how they can take action against LGBT materials aimed at young children.
The group lists actionable steps for parents, such as utilizing the organization’s template for writing a letter to libraries, gathering signatures, and being ready to film possible confrontations from library staff.
Parents are to check out LGBT children’s books and keep them out of sight from their children at home.
