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The Washington Post noted that parents voicing concerns over content they claim is inappropriate for young children in schools overwhelmingly targets LGBTQ+ content, according to its schoolbook challenge analysis that assesses parents’ reasons for opposing certain content.
“The discontent with children’s picture books overwhelmingly centers on titles with LGBTQ characters and storylines, which were targeted in 75 percent of such challenges,” The Post said it uncovered.
The report added that the predominant concern was parents didn’t want their children reading about “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary and queer lives.”
CONTROVERSIAL ‘GENDER QUEER’ TOPS LIBRARY GROUP’S LIST OF CHALLENGED BOOKS
“Gender Queer” and other sexually graphic books have come under fire for being presented to children, with the North Dakota legislature considering a ban on such material. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
In The Post piece, parents brought up books like “Julián Is a Mermaid,” which captures the story of a boy who cross-dresses to look like a mermaid, and “Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag,” a book homing in on the life and story of gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
One, for example, was concerned that the imagery and messaging of “Julián Is a Mermaid,” would “confuse” children while another criticized the Harvey Milk story of “opening up conversations that lead to grooming.”
One professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carol Tilley, is quoted in the article, likening the outrage over LGBTQ+ themed books to outrage over a book depicting a white rabbit and a black rabbit getting married in the 1950s. In segregationist states, she said, the book created a stir.
“I think that you see a long pattern: Concerns tend to mirror whatever the big social changes are at any particular time.”
MARYLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT UNVEILS LGBTQ BOOK LIST THAT TEACHES WORDS ‘INTERSEX,’ ‘DRAG QUEEN’ TO PRE-K STUDENTS
‘Julian is a Mermaid’ is…
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