Target Donated Millions of Dollars to Group That Promotes LGBT Activism in Schools

In the wake of an ongoing customer backlash against Target, the retail chain’s longtime partnership with a national activist group that places LGBT-themed books in K-12 school libraries and encourages teachers to discuss sex and gender with children has gained renewed attention.

Over the past decade, the New York City-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has received from Target more than $2 million in donations, according to the company’s website.

“Target donated $250,000 donation to GLSEN to advance its mission of creating affirming, accessible and antiracist spaces for LGBTQIA+ students,” the retail giant said last year in a blog post celebrating Pride Month. “This marks our 11th year of partnership, with a total of $2.1 million in support to date.”

Founded in 1990 by a teacher-turned-gay activist who would later oversee the Obama administration’s school drug and violence prevention program, GLSEN bills itself as a “leading national organization working to guarantee LGBTQ+ students safe and affirming education,” with 43 chapters in 30 states across the nation.

In 2015, GLSEN worked with Target to produce a mini-documentary for the group’s 25th-anniversary celebration. “Together, we have been able to change school climates for LGBT youth and are excited about what the next 25 years will bring,” then-GLSEN executive director Eliza Byard said at the time.

While outrage over Target’s effort to market LGBT-themed children’s products continues to grow, GLSEN’s effort to send “LGBT-affirming text” to schools has been going on without drawing much public attention.

In a video call recording shared to social media last year, senior education programs manager Michael Rady states that GLSEN’s “Rainbow Library” initiative puts “a major emphasis on books centered on the voices of trans and non-binary people as well as books that tend to the voices of BIPOC LGBTQ+ people.”

“I know as a former teacher that having high-quality LGBTQ books at my fingertips will allow me to seamlessly integrate this into a reading lesson that I otherwise would be teaching anyway,” Rady said. “It’s the first step for getting in front of kids.”

Among the list of books GLSEN wants to see elementary school students reading are “When Aidan Became a Brother” and “I Am Jazz.” The former is described as a story about how a couple “fixed the parts of life that didn’t fit anymore” after their daughter told them she “felt more like a boy.” The latter tells the story of a boy who felt he “had a girl’s brain in a boy’s body” just because he loved stereotypical girly things like “pink and dressing up as a mermaid.”

According to its website, the Rainbow Library program has sent 46,000 “LGBTQ+ affirming K-12 books” to over 4,600 schools across the country. “Each set contains 10 LGBTQ+ affirming grade-aligned books, as well as posters and supplemental resources,” it says.

Having an LGBT library “can allow a district or a state to have that first stepping stone to inclusive curriculum,” according to Rady.

When it comes to curriculum, GLSEN has been encouraging K-12 teachers to incorporate sex and gender discussions into their teachings, including when teaching mathematics.... (Read more)

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