Why Would Scholastic Book Fairs Ban Books With Same-Sex Parents in Them?

[Ian David]

Why Would Scholastic Book Fairs Ban Books With Same-Sex Parents in Them?

Sign the petition here
http://gayrights.change.org/actions/view/tell_scholasti...

You have to wonder why an organization dedicated to getting students to read would decide to make censorship such an important part of their work. You also have to wonder why one of the leading organizations dedicated to helping students learn would decide to wallop a giant blow of discrimination toward gay and lesbian families and children of same-sex parents.

But that's what Scholastic Books is doing by banning a book from its book fairs simply for the fact that the book contains a girl character who has two lesbian moms. The book in question is Lauren Myracle's book Luv Ya Bunches, a new book that wittingly covers the trials, tribulations and friendships that a group of young girls go through in school.

Scholastic offered to carry the book provided that Myracle edited it to change the fact that one of the characters has two mommies. In other words, they wanted to give the girl a heterosexual family. Myracle refused, since she actually has the chutzpah that Scholastic Books tactlessly lacks. Here's what Myracle said (h/t Mombian):

“A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents. “I find that appalling. I understand why they would want to avoid complaint letters—no one likes getting hated on—but shouldn’t they be willing to evaluate the quality of the complaint? What, exactly, are children being protected against here?”

“Over 200,000 kids in America are raised by same-sex parents, just like Milla. It’s not an issue to clean up or hide away,” says Myracle. “In my opinion, it’s not an ‘issue’ at all. The issue, as I see it, is that kids benefit hugely from seeing themselves reflected positively in the books they read. It’s an extremely empowering and validating experience.”


She's exactly right. Same-sex families shouldn't be edited out of books simply to pacify a minority of anti-gay voices. It's appalling that Scholastic Book Fairs would cater to this type of thinking. This is an organization dedicated to higher learning for students. Instead, they're catering to an agenda that seeks to hide students from a undeniable reality in this world: many children have same-sex parents, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

You can take action now by signing this petition to Scholastic Books' Senior Manager of Communications (for Book Fairs), as well as their VP of Corporate Communications and President. The actions of Scholastic Books affirms a message that something is wrong with gay or lesbian parents. If you disagree -- and we hope you do -- send them a message now.

More:
http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/why_would_scholas...

Sign the petition here
http://gayrights.change.org/actions/view/tell_scholasti...

[WillBowden]

1. Signature 2119...

Done.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Scholastic is a Missouri company

This isn't the least bit surprising. MO is very conservative in many spots.

You should post this in the Education forum. DU teachers would sign it

[peace frog]

3. Signed and sent

Not surprised but plenty disgusted.

[RKP5637]

4. Signed! n/t

[Lyric]

5. We're a lesbian couple with a 9-year-old.

When book fair time comes around, I'll send a note to school telling the administrators why our child won't be buying anything this year, and we'll take him to Barnes & Noble so he can pick out some books *there*.

[RKP5637]

8. Excellent Idea!!! n/t

[pnwmom]

12. Why not encourage the PTA to have Barnes and Noble or -- even better --

a good independent bookstore -- sponsor a book fair instead?

Scholastic book fairs sell only Scholastic books. Better to have a bookstore run a fair. It's a win-win both for the school and the store.

[riderinthestorm]

17. Took the words out of my mouth. B and N, more blue than red, does bookfairs.

And Lauren Myracle is a powerhouse "teen"/"kid" writer. Having her take this stance is pretty damn important. Excellent.

[pnwmom]

18. Who do they think they're protecting kids from? They probably have friends

in their classes right now who have gay parents. But it's too scary to put them into a book.

[lonestarnot]

6. Done, done, done, done!

Thank you!

[mrs_p]

7. ugh, signed, and k/r

[redwitch]

9. done

2183

[intheflow]

10. K&R here, but I can't get the petition to come up for me.

It brings me to a page that says something like, "Oops! You've encountered a problem we didn't anticipate, would you like to go back to our homepage?"

[tbyg52]

11. That's not the only thing they've done recently

They were a bastion of tolerance when I was a kid - have they changed hands since then?

From the Freedom from Religion Foundation:

**************************

ACTION ALERT! CHILDREN'S PUBLICATION MISREADS CONSTITUTION

ASK SCHOLASTIC NEWS FOR KIDS TO ACKNOWLEDGE NONRELIGION

October 21, 2009

A member's daughter-in-law recently complained to FFRF that her son
was given a Scholastic News for Kids magazine at school containing
unclear information about the constitutional principle of the
separation between state and church. The lines read: "The constitution
says we can be any religion. We are free to choose." A child might
infer that an American must choose a religion. It would be more
appropriate and factual to say, "The constitution says we can be any
religion, or no religion at all."

The U.S. Constitution affords all Americans, including atheists and
agnostics, the right to believe or disbelieve in any religion. At a
time when at least 15% of Americans identify openly as nonreligious (
http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/reports/ARIS ...
), it would seem appropriate for a child-oriented publication,
especially one distributed in public schools, to show awareness of
this rapidly growing constituency of freethinkers. Children in public
schools should not feel compelled to choose a religion. They must also
know that they can choose no religion.

Please send a message to Scholastic News for Kids asking them to
acknowledge, in their next issue, that the constitution also protects
the rights of conscience of nonbelievers. You may wish to thank them
for their otherwise informative publication.

CONTACT

Glenn Greenberg, Editor
Scholastic News For Kids
557 Broadway
New York NY 10012
[e-mail]
1-800-724-6527 (Phone Scholastic Customer Center)

[pnwmom]

13. Parents -- please encourage your PTA's to contract with bookstores for book fairs

instead.

Scholastic isn't the only place that can run a book fair, and they only sell Scholastic books. Our school has used more than one bookstore for fairs. If your area has an independent bookseller, that's the best way to support it.

[elshiva]

14. K&R. We need some good same sex parents books.

I was happily surprised that the Bel Air library had a copy of that famous "gay penguin book" on display. And I was even happier when I saw a young mother check out the book. Bel Air's a conservative town, but the library and the library staff were respectful of diversity.

[roody]

15. I dumped Scholastic when they cheered on

Bush's invasion.

[madeline_con]

16. Done! K&R

[riderinthestorm]

19. A kick for today. nt