State Farm Donating Transgender Books For Kindergartners To Schools In Florida

Insurance provider State Farm has partnered with the “GenderCool Project” to begin giving a packet of pro-transgender books to Florida schools and libraries and are marketed to kids ages 5 and up. The program met with scrutiny this week and was cancelled immediately by the company.

A concerned whistleblower alerted the nonprofit Consumers’ Research, who sent it to the Washington Examiner, about an email that State Farm sent to their Florida agents about the books.

See Consumer’s Research’s commercial below outlining the situation.

“The project’s goal is to increase representation of LGBTQ+ books and support our communities in having challenging, important and empowering conversations with children age 5+,” the email read.

The GenderCool project promotes gender identity issues in children through public advocacy and awareness programs. The books are A Kids Book About Being Transgender, A Kids Book About Being Non-Binary, and A Kids Book About Being Inclusive are meant to show that gender is separate from biological sex and can be changed.

The email was originally sent on January 18 by Jose Soto, a corporate responsibility analyst for State Farm in Florida. The point of the email was to recruit six State Farm insurance agents in Florida to donate the books “to their community by the end of April.”

“This is a fantastic way to give back and an easy project that will help support the LGBTQ+ community and to make the world around us better,” the email said.

The program is not just in Florida, but is being done nationwide.

“Nationwide, approximately 550 State Farm agents and employees will have the opportunity to donate this three book bundle to their local teacher, community center, or library of their choice,” Soto continued in the email.

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law called the Parental Rights in Education Bill that bars the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation through third grade. It goes into effect on July 1rst of this year, and was smeared as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”

In a zoom call with the Consumer Research Executive Director Will Hild said that the materials that State Farm is providing to schools with the GenderCool Project would be removed from the school in July when the law goes into effect.

“We would hope State Farm would … cooperate with the governor’s office or law enforcement in [Florida] and retrieve any of these books that may have been donated to public schools that by law now do not belong there,” Hild said.

Consumers’ Research said that it is planning to launch a public awareness campaign about State Farm’s partnership with the GenderCool Project and is using the tag line “like a creepy neighbor” for the campaign.

“We think it’s important … for customers to know about this and for parents to be aware that State Farm is trying to have conversations around sexual identity without them present,” Hild said.

See how the National Science Teaching Group is pushing how to queer your classroom

State Farm has defended the program and says that it is voluntary in a statement to the press: “Participants are not being asked to share with schools,” the statement said. “At State Farm, we are committed to diversity and inclusion; they aren’t just words, they are truly part of how we do business and lead our organization. We recognize and value the diversity of all people, and support a culture of respect and inclusion in the communities in which we live and work, as well as our workplace. The LGBTQ+ community is a valued part of the communities we serve and are valued members of our workplace.”

“Kindness and respect is expected in all our interactions and extended to everyone we do business with across all segments of society. We embrace diversity and inclusion because it’s the right thing to do. We work with a variety of organizations and causes that express their own unique views, and support civil and open dialogue on challenging topics.”

The program was abandoned this week after press backlash over the program. In a statement obtained by Libs of Tik Tok: “State Farm’s support of a philanthropic program, GenderCool, has been the subject of news and customer inquiries. This program that included books about gender identity was intended to promote inclusivity. We will no longer support that program.”

Do you think it is appropriate that an insurance company is pushing gender identity on children as young as five? Are you glad they cancelled it?

Joel Bailey

Joel Bailey is a social commentator and writer at the Next News Network. He graduated from Fisher College in Boston, Massachusetts and was adopted from Africa. He is proof of the American dream and learned conservative values at a young age.