When a child at a Wisconsin elementary school quietly came out to administrators as transgender, the school did everything right. Sadly, it’s all for naught, as Liberty Counsel intervened and ruined a valuable learning opportunity for kids.

After a student came out as trans, Mount Horeb Primary Center scheduled a reading of I Am Jazz, a children’s book written by trans teenager Jazz Jennings.

The principal sent a note home informing parents about the reading, explaining that a student at school was transitioning, and allowing parents to opt their child out of the reading if they so desired:

[Read more…]

Some of my fondest memories from elementary school took place at the Scholastic Book Fair, the traveling marketplace of kids’ literature that would set up shop in the library every year. I loved perusing each and every shelf, figuring out what books I’d beg my mom to buy me. My brother especially treasured the Captain Underpants series, and so I started reading them too.

The Scholastic Book Fair is still alive and well, and so is the Captain Underpants series. In fact, the books are evolving with the times; the latest installment, Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-a-lot, discusses how one of the main male characters grows up to marry another man.

Eleven-year-old me would have been delighted. But not surprisingly, the mere mention of a same-sex relationship has some schools taking a step back from the book, with reactions ranging from warnings about “controversial” content to pulling the book entirely.

[Read more…]