Scholastic 'Not Safe for Your Child' Because of Pro-LGBT Books, One Million Moms Warns
A socially conservative family group is warning parents that leading children's publishing company Scholastic is "not safe for your child" and is calling on supporters to pressure the corporation to stop producing materials that promote homosexuality and transgender identity.
The group One Million Moms has launched a campaign against Scholastic, which is known for holding book fairs and events at schools across the United States and reaches up to 6 million children a week. The organization is warning that Scholastic is "marketing transgender picture books for children."
One Million Moms, which is a division of the social conservative advocacy group American Family Association that is dedicated to "stopping the exploitation of our children," specifically has a problem with the 2015 book George, which focuses on the story of a transgender fourth-grader who wants to play a female role in a school play.
"Scholastic, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, is using its platform to promote pro-homosexual and pro-transgender books for children," a post on One Million Moms' website explains. "The corporation, for example, published a pro-transgender book called George for third-graders."
According to the organization, the book reads: "When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she [George] knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl."
One Million Moms also took issue with some of Scholastic's reading lists, which include Mother's Day Books for Two-Mommy Families, Great books for Two-Dad Families, and 6 Picture Books About Transgender Children.
"The American College of Pediatricians warns: 'Conditioning children into believing that a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse,'" the One Million Moms campaign says. "Scholastic does not have our children's best interests at heart. Tell Scholastic to stop harming children."
One Million Moms is calling on its followers to directly express their concerns with Scholastic through phone calls, emails or social media posts.
The Christian Post reached out to Scholastic for comment and will update this article when it's received.
Michelle Cretella, president of the conservative-leaning American College of Pediatricians and a critic of sex reassignment procedures, told Church Militant that "there is solid evidence that the sexualization of children through all forms of media leads to early sexual activity."
"Children do not need to 'understand' what they see and hear in order to learn or become desensitized," she contended.
"Pedophiles use this fact to groom their intended victims through sexting or online pornography," Cretella added.
As The Blaze notes, Scholastic has long promoted LGBT issues.
In June 2017, Scholastic published a lengthy post on its teaching blog to celebrate LGBT Pride Month titled: "Create Inclusive, Affirming Schools for LGBTQ Students." The post called on students and teachers to "be an ally."
The post suggested that teachers should make their classrooms "safe spaces" for LGBT students. The post also promoted resources from the pro-LGBT lobbying group GLSEN.
"Teachers can also show their support of LGBT students by introducing and making available classroom materials that reflect diverse experiences," the post reads. "The classroom library is an excellent place to start."
The Scholastic post promotes books such as George, And Tango Makes Three, The Sissy Duckling, Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out and others.