State Farm Insurance has halted efforts to donate books that support LGBTQ inclusivity to Florida public school students after conservatives accused him of engaging in “woke indoctrination”.
The insurance company was working alongside the GenderCool Project, an organization dedicated to outreach to transgender and non-binary youth, to distribute the books.
But he changed course this week after an internal company email was obtained by the conservative non-profit organization Consumers’ Research.
Consumers’ Research executive director Will Hild on Monday accused State Farm of attempting to indoctrinate young children by providing LGBTQ-inclusive books to young college students in Florida, where the so-called “Don ‘t Say Gay” was recently enacted. .
The new legislation prohibits any type of education about sexual orientation and gender identity in most elementary schools, and also allows parents to sue school districts that violate the law.
“Emails leaked to Consumers First from affected State Farm employees show the company engaged in the waking indoctrination of children 5 and older,” Hild wrote on Twitter. “State Farm has partnered with the GenderCool Project – which aims to have conversations with children about being transgender and non-binary.”
On Tuesday, State Farm told Insider it would no longer work with Project GenderCool, which it said had recently been “the subject of news and customer requests.”
“This program which included gender identity books was intended to promote inclusivity,” the company said in a statement to Insider. “We support organizations that provide resources for parents to have conversations about gender and identity with their children at home. We do not support the mandatory curriculum in schools on this subject.
State Farm said they “will no longer be affiliated with the organization.”
“We will continue to explore how we can support our associates, as well as organizations that align with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, including the LGBTQ+ community,” the company told Insider.
State Farm and The GenderCool Project did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
There has been a concerted effort by conservatives across the United States to ban books that include depictions of racism and LGBTQ experiences. Conservative states such as Utah, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana have introduced or signed legislation banning critical race theory – an academic framework that conservatives have falsely claimed is forced on children – to be taught in public schools, according to NBC News.
The focus on LGBTQ education has already impacted the availability of these materials. A report released in April by the literary organization PEN American found that more than 1,000 books related to race and the LGBTQ community are no longer in circulation.