UPDATE:
Victory: Scholastic Reverses Decision to Exclude Gay Friendly Book from Fairs
Hey everyone,
This is Mike Jones, Editor of the Gay Rights blog on Change.org, writing with great news.
Scholastic Books just responded to the petition you all signed on Change.org criticizing the company for excluding a book from their popular books fairs simply because one of the characters had two lesbian mothers. I’m happy to say that because of the collective strength of the 4,000 people who signed the petition, Scholastic has reversed their decision to exclude the book – Lauren Myracle’s Luv Ya Bunches – and has released a statement affirming the dignity of gay and lesbian parents.
This is a great victory achieved in 48 hours, and it was only possible because of all of you who signed, advocated for, and spread the petition. Scholastic Books is one of the largest educational publishing outfits in the country, and this sends a clear message to children and parents everywhere that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with two men or two women raising a child.
While Scholastic Books hasn’t directly apologized for originally excluding Luv Ya Bunches, which they blocked in part because the author refused Scholastic’s request that she include a heterosexual couple in the story, their statement today ensures that Luv Ya Bunches and other books with same sex parents as characters will be available at future book fairs. Moreover, the company has taken steps to avoid this issue in the future by committing “to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents.”
Finally, the company publicly recognized that LGBT families and parents are a part of reality and shouldn’t be hidden from kids, saying that “Scholastic editors recognize Milla’s two moms as a positive and realistic aspect of the story.”
As Lauren Myracle herself said at the height of this controversy, “Over 200,000 kids in America are raised by same-sex parents… It’s not an issue to clean up or hide away.” That’s the message you all sent by signing this petition, and Scholastic Books heard you loud and clear.
Thanks for your support, and congratulations on yet another Change.org victory!
Mike
p.s. here’s the announcement of the victory on the site now
ORIGNAL POST:
I’ve been asked to help with the Scholastic Book Fair at my daughter’s school this week, but I’ve soured on the idea after reading about a brewing controversy. Apparently, Scholastic has decided that one book, Luv Ya Bunches, while listed in their catalog, is too provocative to be seen at their book fairs.
The book description from amazon:
What do Katie-Rose, Yasaman, Milla, and Violet all have in common? Other than being named after flowers, practically nothing. Katie-Rose is a film director in training. Yasaman is a computer whiz. Milla is third in command of the A list. And Violet is the new girl in school. They’re fab girls, all of them, but they sure aren’t friends.
The “problem” is that one girl in the story happens to have same-sex parents.
…and, Scholastic doesn’t want to get mean letters from rabid haters of gay people.
Not that the company isn’t willing to compromise.
Here’s the deal: The book will be reconsidered if the author, Lauren Myracle, is willing to clean up her book. All she has to do is scrub out the two moms – and replace them with a mom and dad. Easy as pie – and clean as a whistle.
Seriously.
Myracle explains,
A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’ … 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?
But, the million dollar questions continue to go unanswered.
For more, change.org has the story – and a petition
Good excuse to get out of this boring duty. :)
Nance
WTdoubleF?? I’m signing the petition.
Reminds me (in a way) of what is going on in Maine right now over same-sex marriage. There is a ballot initiaive on for November 3 to repeal the recently enacted same-sex marriage law. The most recent controversy in the campaign was whether allowing same-sex marriage would mandate teaching about “gay sex” in the public schools. The Attorney General issued an opinion that teaching about marriage of any kind is not mandated by the State, but is decided entirely by local school boards. The anti-same-sex-marriage crowd are not mollified though. It turns out that what they are opposed to is that there might be ANY MENTION AT ALL IN THE CLASSROOM THAT SAME-SEX COUPLES EVEN EXIST.
The problem, of course, is that plenty of families are headed by same-sex couples already, and there are lots of students in the public schools that live in such families. Basically, the demand of the anti-same-sex-marriage folks is that thier children get to live in some sort of alternate reality, and that the rest of us must play along with this fantasy in front of their children.
Just wait until the Flat Earthers get in on the act!
Chris Matthews on Hardball just now, threw in the remark that a pollster told him there’s never been a lurch in public opinion like the rapid trend toward accepting same-sex marriage choice as a basic civil right and fairness issue. Pat Buchanan admitted that people who agreed with his own opposition to it, were “dying off.”
Tom:
So, is mandated teaching the same as “homosexual indocrination”? ;) That’s what they called it here in California, during our recent same-sex marriage ballot measure.
Very good point. What these people do is unconsionable. As JJ suggested, one day (soon, hopefully) these hateful ideas will die away.
It’s been too long since I visited! First, I know it’s a little beside your point, but the pictures make the post. ;-) Second, WTF? Is the book published by Scholastic? I assume so. They agreed to publish it but not market or sell it? Am I missing something?
Off to read more posts. I’ve missed you! ;)
Hi Judy,
Shortly after receiving your comment, I heard that Scholastic reversed their decision. The issue had been that, while Scholastic would continue to offer the book in their brochures, they didn’t want to offer it for sale at their book fairs which are held at schools nationwide at this time of year. Fortunately, they’ve reconsidered.
I’ve missed you, too! :) I tend to get stuck here on my own blog and forget to get out and visit. :)
Excellent news! :)
But now I think this means you have to help out at the book fair. :(
Nance
Nance:
Damn. I forgot all about that.