Opposing Views: OPINION:Boycott Scholastic for Endorsing Pro-Homosexual Kid's Book

Boycott Scholastic for Endorsing Pro-Homosexual Kid's Book

By Illinois Family Institute , Upholding Marriage and Family - November 03, 2009

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The famous -- and soon to be infamous -- Scholastic Books has decided to include the pro-homosexual book for 9-12 year-olds, Luv Ya Bunches, in its middle school book fairs. This troubling book is already in the Scholastic Book Club catalogue, which is distributed to elementary school children.

Because of the vociferous protests of homosexuals and a petition drive by the pro-homosexual organization Change.org, Scholastic Books has reversed its initial decision to exclude the book from their book fairs. It will now allow Luv Ya Bunches to be included at its middle school book fairs.

According to the Guardian, author Lauren Myracle "who regularly makes the list of the most banned and challenged authors in the US -- capitulated on the language, removing words such as 'geez', 'crap', 'sucks', and 'God', but refused to replace the lesbian parents of her character Milla with a heterosexual couple." Scholastic Books includes Luv Ya Bunches on it's "Teacher's Picks" page as one of the "Best Books" for grades 3-5.

Change.org describes Scholastic Books as "one of the largest education publishers in the world with broad influence over the reading materials of children everywhere. . . .These are the same book fairs that have reach [sic] to millions of schoolchildren nationwide." Clearly, homosexual activists recognize the potential Scholastic Books has to transform the views of impressionable children.

IFI is urging parents to notify your children's schools that because Luv Ya Bunches is listed in the Scholastic Book Club catalogue, the catalogue is not to be distributed to your child and that you will not be ordering any books from Scholastic Books. (Click HERE for a sample message that you can edit, customize, print and send.)

In addition, notify your children's school that if Luv Ya Bunches will be included at the Scholastic Book Fair, your child is not to be taken to the fair during or after school hours.

Finally, send emails to Scholastic Books management to inform them that as long as they are carrying books that affirm homosexuality as moral, you will not purchase books from them:

Richard Robinson (Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer)

Maureen O'Connell (Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer)

Ernest Fleishman (Senior Vice President of Education and Corporate Relations)

Investor Relations

Regarding Article

OPINION:Boycott Scholastic for Endorsing Pro-Homosexual Kid's Book

Ha

Thanks for all the email addresses and links. I'll be sure to send them messages thanking them for including this great book in their collection.

I cannot see any possible harm in school kids knowing that some of their parents have two moms or two dads. This is simply factual information. You act as though this book is some kind of lesbian sex manual.

If anything, helping kids understand that their schoolmates' parents might be different from their own should help to protect such kids from bullying . Or perhaps that's what you're trying to promote? Making sure children of gays and lesbians get bullied at school, so that their parents will...what? Magically be turned "straight?" It's for their own good, or something?

You people are really, really sad.

- Babaroni November 3, 2009 10:10AM

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Define Family

The spread of the "X Family Group-Institute-Association" businesses seems to redefine family: You will be what and act how WE say. 'We' being random groups of self-righteous and self-loathing hypocrites.

Those types make me worry for my children 's future more than homosexuals .

- Submariner November 3, 2009 11:35AM

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Luv Ya Bunches

Lauren Myracle isn't providing any explicitly inappropriate materials in the book . The lesbian parents are simply the parents of one of the main characters -just as in real life, over 200,000 children are raised by same-sex parents.

Attempting to suppress the free speech of authors isn't going to make homosexuality disappear.

I agree with Babaroni -exposing kids to the reality of people being homosexual will reduce the likelihood of bullying and negativity expressed towards the children of same-sex parents or gay students .

Boycotting a publisher for agreeing to sell a book that contains a positive, empowering message to young students about friendship and cooperation based on one element in the book that is based on a reality is insane.

I find it really interesting that the article claims homosexuals were the ones protesting -I am not a homosexual, nor are many of the people who protested Scholastic's initial refusal to sell the book. Heterosexuals stand up for the rights of homosexuals, too.

Attempting to stigmatize one group of people based on their sexual preference is an incredibly sad thing to be doing. Homosexuality is a completely normal sexual preference, and making the case for banning a book that presents it in a positive light is just one more pathetic attempt to restrict people's freedoms.

- bshoe89 November 3, 2009 12:18PM

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Do hats keep falling off your narrow mind?

It must be really awful to go through life so scared of reality. I recommend you seek a competent therapist to help you address your fears. I'm praying for you. It can get better!

- Momin OR November 3, 2009 1:54PM

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Thank you!!

Thanks IFI! I never would have heard of this if not for you!!

I’m going to fire off a few emails to these people telling them exactly what I think on this subject! And while I don’t have any school aged children , but I bet I can ask some of the local public libraries to carry it.

In a sense I’m rather glad that these groups publish their information so openly! It’s informed me about issues that I never would have heard of (like this one).

- MrBook November 3, 2009 4:59PM

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Where do we stop?

bshoe claims 200,000 kids have same-sex parents. Lets us assume this is correct. According to this document: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/97trends/Pf1-1.htm there are around 70 million children under 18 now in the US. Let us assume this is accurate. This would mean that 0.00285% of kids have same-sex parents. Exactly where should we draw the line on inclusion?

I know many of you will miss my point and rip me for being anti-gay. It is ok. You can't help yourselves. For those who get my point, and I am serious, where do we draw the line? What is the percentage of a minority population that should rate inclusion in the mainstream? Should we include those families with 3 mothers, 6 fathers, and 23 kids who run a truck stop on Route 66, after all, they are out there? Maybe we need a book detailing the wonders and joys of commune living, where the kids are subject to working in the fields all day and get gruel for dinner so as those children won't get bullied?

Yes, my examples are extreme to make a point. Where, and please explain with more than your support for gay families, the line should be drawn, just so the rest of us know. I won't hold my breath for anything other than insults and feigned outrage.

- moby clarke November 4, 2009 12:23AM

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- i am most sure
  
  Bshoe is wrong, in that there are way more than that. Homosexuals now take up almost six to ten percent of our society if not at least. This doesnt include transgenders or Bisexuals. And with more than 60% lesbians and almost 40% gay men have or pronounce they want children , (census's and what not, sociology book ), i am pretty sure that takes up a good 3% if not more of the children population.
  But we will never know how much gays and lesbians are really out there since people have admitted to either not coming out of the closet or not wanting to sign a census because of the hate and cruelity out there.
  Also u must take into fact that census's report a growth in how many gays report living in our population each year... This basically begs the question, how many are really out there and are just trying to live their lives?
  hope this helps :)
  
  - zman676 November 4, 2009 6:58AM
  
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- I guess
  
  I guess moby only thinks there should be white doll- babies for sale in the stores and only books on the shelves about kids with one living mommy, one living daddy, married to each other and never divorced. We can't have marginalized kids feeling like they are a part of society , after all.
  
  - Babaroni November 4, 2009 2:06PM
  
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a Thank You note to Scholastic!

And a Thank You note to IFI for raising this issue and making it easy for us to send Scholastic our praise. Such a positive step forward should be recognized.

Thanks again, IFI! ;-)

- Truly Scrumptious November 4, 2009 11:21AM

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Thanks

Thanks for providing the useful contact information. I've just sent letters thanking Scholastic for including this excellent book in their catalogue.

To moby clarke, what exactly is the problem with including representations of what you refer to as "minorities" in books for children ? Children live in a diverse world populated by people of different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, languages and ways of life, and the reality is that some children have same-sex parents. Why should those kids not see their reality reflected in what they read?

- BobW November 4, 2009 11:27AM

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- Again
  
  Where do we draw the line? Why should we not have books about kids living in slavery, cause we do not want to leave them out.
  
  You guys all just made the point I was trying to make. You have no moral compass. What ever group comes along demanding their way of life is "normal", you just fall into line and give your stamp of approval and then force the rest of us to be subject to it as well. I can't wait to see the newest relase: "My 23 mommies and 6 daddies can beat up your dog."
  
  - moby clarke November 4, 2009 2:46PM
  
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  - Just because
    
    Just because something is not your own personal experience does not make it "not normal" for someone else, moby. Part of growing up is learning to accept that others are different from you and their experiences and feelings are different from your own.
    
    - Babaroni November 4, 2009 5:03PM
    
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    - Just Because Everyone's Doing it Doesn't Make it Right
      
      Right... just because I have never had relations with pigs or cows, or maybe even the dead, doesn't mean it's "not normal" for someone else to. And that they therefore should not have the right to teach my children about how they are different...hmmmmm.
      
      I know I'll get blasted for this...but all in all its what society is coming to by doing "what's right in our own eyes."
      
      Declination of a society starts with openess to same sex relations, then Bestiality, then Necrophilia, then societal collapse. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither did it fall in a day. Rome had all these unnatural relational progressions in affect at the time of it's decline. Moral decline was at the heart of it's structural decline.
      
      I know this goes against the present forceful grain...but afterall this is "Opposing Views" isn't it?
      
      jmatsilv :)
      
      PS: "Some" heterosexual couples cannot produce children without medical assistance. Due to physical abnormalities. However "NO" same sex couple can produce children at any time or under any circumstance without medical or adoptive intervention without physical abnormalities....another hmmmmmmmmm.
      
      - jmatsilv November 4, 2009 10:23PM
      
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      - Actually
        
        There is considerable difference between a gay relationship and the examples you bring up -- namely that none of your examples is between two, adult, consenting human beings. Animals cannot give consent, nor can dead bodies.
        
        There have been same-gender relationships for as long as there have been human beings and it has never yet led to "societal collapse." Drop the hyperbole and false "comparisons." They do not help your argument one bit.
        
        Incidentally, yeah, a lesbian can have a baby without medical intervention, adoption or physical abnormalities. So can a gay man. All they need is a willing surrogate or donor. And there are many, many willing surrogates and donors.
        
        One thing a lesbian or gay man can NEVER have: an unwanted "oopsie" accidental pregnancy , leading to either an abortion or an unwanted baby. I'd say that's a huge plus.
        
        - Babaroni November 4, 2009 11:24PM
        
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        Same Sex Relations a Dead Branch
        
        Babaroni said "Incidentally, yeah, a lesbian can have a baby without medical intervention, adoption or physical abnormalities. So can a gay man. All they need is a willing surrogate or donor. And there are many, many willing surrogates and donors."
        
        Yes! Thank you for proving my previous point, it is impossible for any same sex relationship to reproduce on their own without some time type of outside intervention. Nothing can happen unless they go outside of their supposed union to do so. If their same sex union was indeed natural "as they say", then there would normally be no need for outside intervention to reproduce and form a family unit.
        
        Yet the fact remains that they will ALWAYS NEED outside intervention. Heterosexual couples only need outside intervention when their NATURAL FUNCTIONS are in a state of malfunction.
        
        Before surrogate technology aka "Medical Intervention" was discovered, same sex relationships acknowledged the utterly natural truth that it takes opposite sexes to procreate. So if they were to continue in their unnatural relationship they would have to accept the natural consequence, no reproduction. A lesbian women NEEDS a man's surrogate sperm...ahhh why is that? Right women don't produce sperm; they produce "the egg".
        
        I don't understand why people try to deny natural life functions to justify their unnatural life styles....I really don't. Face it people... same sex is a dead branch, that is, on its own it cannot be fruitful.
        
        jmatsilv
        
        - jmatsilv November 5, 2009 2:10PM
        
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        The same is true
        
        The same is true for many infertile couples, jmatsilv. Yet we do not deny marriage to infertile couples (or to couples who do not wish to procreate or who are beyond the age where procreation is possible). Since gay couples raise children all the time, including adopting the unwanted cast-offs of straight couples who procreate irresponsibly, gay couples deserve the same societal supports and incentives provided to straight couples.
        
        There is no procreational requirement placed upon civil marriage, and to exclude couples from civil marriage based upon such a rationale is hypocritical, at best.
        
        As to "unnatural," it would be far more unnatural for a gay person to attempt to marry someone of the opposite gender than of their own gender. Just as it is unnatural to YOU to consider marrying someone of your same gender. Just because something is "unnatural" for you does not make it "unnatural for someone else." For gay people, being gay is the most natural thing in the world. If you could take just a moment to think outside your own, very tiny box, you might see how that would be the case.
        
        - Babaroni November 5, 2009 2:53PM
        
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        More comments in this thread
        
        purpose?
        
        When did reproduction become the purpose of marriage ?
        
        - MrBook November 5, 2009 6:32PM
        
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