Why Would Scholastic Book Fairs Ban Books With Same-Sex Parents in Them?

UPDATE: Scholastic has responded to this petition by issuing a statement saying that Luv Ya Bunches will be available in their Spring 2010 book fairs, as well as affirming the dignity of LGBT families and parents.

You have to wonder why an organization dedicated to getting students to read would decide to make censorship such an important part of their work. You also have to wonder why one of the leading organizations dedicated to helping students learn would decide to wallop a giant blow of discrimination toward gay and lesbian families and children of same-sex parents.

But that's what Scholastic Books is doing by banning a book from its book fairs simply for the fact that the book contains a girl character who has two lesbian moms. The book in question is Lauren Myracle's book Luv Ya Bunches, a new book that wittingly covers the trials, tribulations and friendships that a group of young girls go through in school.

Scholastic offered to carry the book provided that Myracle edited it to change the fact that one of the characters has two mommies. In other words, they wanted to give the girl a heterosexual family. Myracle refused, since she actually has the chutzpah that Scholastic Books tactlessly lacks. Here's what Myracle said (h/t Mombian):

“A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents. “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?”

“Over 200,000 kids in America are raised by same-sex parents, just like Milla. It’s not an issue to clean up or hide away,” says Myracle. “In my opinion, it’s not an ‘issue’ at all. The issue, as I see it, is that kids benefit hugely from seeing themselves reflected positively in the books they read. It’s an extremely empowering and validating experience.”

She's exactly right. Same-sex families shouldn't be edited out of books simply to pacify a minority of anti-gay voices. It's appalling that Scholastic Book Fairs would cater to this type of thinking. This is an organization dedicated to higher learning for students. Instead, they're catering to an agenda that seeks to hide students from a undeniable reality in this world: many children have same-sex parents, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

You can take action now by signing this petition to Scholastic Books' Senior Manager of Communications (for Book Fairs), as well as their VP of Corporate Communications and President. The actions of Scholastic Books affirms a message that something is wrong with gay or lesbian parents. If you disagree -- and we hope you do -- send them a message now.

(Photo courtesy of PlayfulLibrarian's photostream on Flickr.)