As covered by The Daily Beast, State Farm (yes, the insurance company) bailed on its support for GenderCool, a philanthropic program designed to get LGBTQ+ children’s books to teachers and libraries. The program tries to get LGBTQ+ children’s books into the hands of librarians, teachers, and community centers in order to increase representation and build inclusivity and empowerment in children five and up.
Sadly, a whistleblower report from inside State Farm about the program made massive waves with conservatives, including the infamous Libs of TikTok account.
Conservatives, of course, decided to take an inclusive book program as an opportunity to spew false terror over young people being groomed or targeted into being LGBTQ+.
According to the outlet, Victor Terry, who serves as the insurance company’s chief diversity officer, wrote an email to staff explaining the decision to step away from the program and it is… not good.
“State Farm’s support of a philanthropic program, GenderCool, has been the subject of news and customer inquiries,” the email reads in part. “This program that included books about gender identity was intended to promote inclusivity.” Terry went on to say the company will “no longer support” the program and that “conversations about gender and identity should happen at home with parents.”
Truly: Why? Why are we relying on parents exclusively to talk about gender and identity? There is no good for it that does not rest on the assumption that LGBTQ+ identities are inherently inappropriate or sexual. Whether kids are LGBTQ+ themselves, allies, or questioning, they have every right to safely access related material that’s appropriate for their age level and without shame, anxiety, or having those resources stolen from them.
“Grooming” hysteria has long been used by the Republican party when it comes to LGBTQ+ people; at some points, it was aimed at gay and lesbian adults, with the aim to keep openly queer adults from, for example, working with children or even maintaining custody or visitation with their own kids. Now it’s mostly aimed at trans folks (see: bathroom bills) but as is the case in Florida, the Don’t Say Gay legislation effectively keeps all LGBTQ+ folks in the closet. After all, openly queer teachers are already being forced to resign, and the law hasn’t even gone into effect yet.
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