(VitalNews.org) – The retail chain Target, which has been the subject of a consumer backlash over its sale of LGBTQIA+ merchandise, has had renewed attention drawn to its involvement with a nationwide activist group that encourages teachers to promote discussions about transgender issues in classrooms and that funds books with LGBTQIA+ themes in K-12 school libraries.
The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), based in New York City, has received more than $2 million over the past decade through donations from Target. A blog post from the retail chain’s website promoting Pride Month revealed that Target had donated $250,000 in 2022, with a total of $2.1 million over the previous 11 years.
GLSEN describes itself as an organization working to provide LGBTQIA+ students with a safe and gender-affirming education. It was founded in 1990 and currently has 43 chapters across 30 states in the US. While Target has come under fire from customers and parents who are outraged by Target’s marketing of LGBTQIA+ products for children, the connection with GLSEN has been largely overlooked.
The “Rainbow Library” initiative, which GLSEN uses to promote LGBTQIA+ books for schoolchildren, is described as promoting books focused on the voices of non-binary and transgender people. Michael Rady, a senior education program manager for GLSEN, said that having high-quality books of this nature allows for seamless integration into reading lessons for young children. Over 46,000 of their books have been sent to 4,600 schools nationwide and claim to be “the first stepping-stone to an inclusive education.”
GLSEN has been encouraging teachers in K-12 classes to include discussions on transgender issues at every possible opportunity, including when teaching mathematics. It emphasizes the importance of reinforcing the difference between the dozens of different genders that have been dreamt up by the “woke” brigade in recent years. It even recommends that parents should be kept in the dark if their child wants to identify as a different gender without the parents’ knowledge.
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