Target Donates Annually to Group Pushing LGBTQ Policies in Schools
Target has been a longtime donor of an organization advocating for LGBTQ+ policies in schools and pushes educators to hide students’ “gender transitions” from parents.
GLSEN, an organization dedicated to advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusive policies in K-12 schools, has received donations from the retail giant for over 10 years. “GLSEN leads the movement in creating affirming… and anti-racist spaces for LGBTQIA+ students. We are proud of 10+ years of collaboration with GLSEN and continue to support their mission,” Target said, according to a report from Fox News.
Target’s Vice President of Brand Management, Carlos Saavedra sits on GLSEN’s Board of Directors and acts as its Treasurer. The corporation has donated at least $2.1 million to date.
The organization creates recommendations for educators on how to best incorporate LGBTQ+ ideology in every subject, including mathematics, by including “they/them” pronouns in word problems. “Ensure that word problems are inclusive, and use this opportunity to highlight diversity in names, gender, and family structure,” GLSEN instructs. “Use this as an opportunity to explore a range of gender expression and activities. Encourage students to write story problems with characters who break gender stereotypes, and have their peers solve them.”
The organization also purchases sexually explicit books to then distribute to school districts for free.
GLSEN offers webinars for teachers, including one on LGBTQ+ inclusive sex education, which suggests starting “early” and teaching about topics such as gender fluidity and transgenderism, and giving students the ability to “explore their identity.” The webinar instructs educators to “focus on the anatomy,” rather than using the terms “male,” or “female.”
According to the organization, more than 500,000 documents and resources are downloaded by students, parents, and teachers each year. Resources include several documents on how educators should address the incoming students, 26 percent of whom are likely to identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ “community.”
One document advises school staff to “not disclose any information that may reveal a student’s gender identity to others, including parents or guardians and other staff, unless the student has authorized such disclosure.”
The document stresses, “Before contacting the parent or guardian of a transgender or nonbinary student, school staff should clarify with the student whether to use their gender-affirming name and the pronouns that correspond to their gender identity, or whether to use their legal name when corresponding with a parent/guardian.”
Concerning overnight class trips “Students shall be allowed use of an overnight facility that corresponds with their gender identity,” GLSEN states.
The organization highlighted the work of one teacher who “came out” as a transgender man to her students and used it as an opportunity to incorporate gender theory into a science lesson.
“We were starting a unit focused on how identity impacts the practice of science, including the ways that specific groups are marginalized by normative ideas,” the teacher said. “In the introduction to the unit, I shared my personal experience of . . . the ways that trans people are often erased by the language used by scientists and medical professionals to describe bodies, patients, and health practices.”
Student resources include one worksheet on how to make student clubs more inclusive for black LGBTQ+ students. “If your GSA [Gender and Sexuality Alliances] does educational programming, make sure that Black experiences are included in that,” the document states. “If you’re doing an activity about queer history, make sure to highlight Black queer history as well. If you’re discussing gender identity, talk about the gender binary as a white supremacist concept.”
GLSEN, in coordination with Family Equality, GLAAD, The Human Rights Campaign, the National Center For Lesbian Rights, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and the National Black Justice Coalition released a statement regarding the boycott that has caused Target to lose $9 billion in market value in just over a week.
“Extremist attacks and harassment of businesses for standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and values of diversity, equity, and inclusion have challenged Target, and businesses more broadly, to lead – to demonstrate they mean what they say when investing in and standing with LGBTQ+ people, creatives, and organizations,” the statement reads. GLSEN and the other organizations then encouraged Target to “double down,” calling it the “right thing to do.”
As Target’s market value continues to fall, its philanthropic ventures such as GLSEN will likely fall by the wayside.
