Leading textbook publishers Scholastic and Pearson have distanced themselves from a push to replace biological sex with gender identity in K-12 classroom discussions after the conservative Heritage Foundation publicized their materials. Heritage education analyst Jonathan Butcher reported last month that Scholastic had published an online Resource Guide for K-12 “educators, caregivers, and advocates” to accompany its “Read With Pride” series of children’s books. Titles in the series include “My Moms Love Me” for “the youngest reader” and LGBT graphic novels for young adults.
The guide vanished from Scholastic’s website at the end of June without explanation, leaving only the “Read With Pride” page. Based in New York, Scholastic is one of the world’s largest publishers of classroom fiction reading. “The Read with Pride Guide was a resource for adults available for Pride Month and is not a textbook for students,” Anne Sparkman, a Scholastic spokeswoman, told The Washington Times.
An archived web copy of the guide showed that a glossary includes definitions of terms such as “agender” (people with no gender identity), “allocishet” (“people whose gender and sexuality are privileged by society”) and “genderfluid” (people with fluctuating gender identities) to instruct adults working with K-12 students. “We are experiencing an undeniable, joyous boom of queer literature for children and young adults of all ages, but it can be difficult.